UNIFORM    WITH    THIS    VOLUME 

STRUAN 

330  pp.  #1.50 


A   BEAUTIFUL   ALIEN 


A  BEAUTIFUL 
ALIEN 


JULIA  ^TAGRUDER 
AUTHOR  OF  Struan,   The  Princess  Sonia,  ETC. 


BOSTON 

Richard  G.  Badger  &  Co. 
1900 


COPYRIGHT  1899  BY 
RICHARD  G.  BADGER  Sf  Co. 

^£'/  Rights  Reserved 


.235? 


A  Beautiful  Alien 


i. 

ON  the  deck  of  an  ocean  steamer,  home 
ward  bound  from  Europe,  a  man  and 
girl  were  walking  to  and  fro.  Their  long 
march  of  monotonous  regularity  had  lasted 
perhaps  an  hour,  and  they  had  become  ob 
jects  of  special  attention  to  the  people  scat 
tered  about. 

A  man,  who  was  taking  his  afternoon 
exercise  alone,  and  who  had  accidentally 
fallen  into  line  directly  behind  this  couple, 
kept  that  position  purposely,  turning  as  they 
turned,  and,  without  seeming  to  do  so,  ob 
serving  them  narrowly,  for  the  reason  that 
the  woman  was  uncommonly  beautiful. 

This  man  —  Albert  Noel  by  name  —  was 
an  artist  by  instinct  and  habit,  though  a 
lawyer  by  profession.  He  painted  pictures 


6  A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

for  love  and  practised  law  for  money,  or 
conventionality,  or  to  please  his  mother 
and  sisters,  or  from  some  reason  which, 
however  indefinite,  had  been  strong  enough 
to  predominate  over  the  longing  he  had 
always  had  to  go  to  Paris,  live  in  the  Latin 
Quarter,  and  be  simply  and  honestly  what 
his  taste  dictated.  Few  people,  perhaps, 
suspected  his  Bohemian  proclivities ;  for 
he  lived  an  extremely  conventional  life,  was 
the  idol  of  his  mother  and  sisters,  and,  being 
well  born,  well-off,  and  sufficiently  good- 
looking,  was  regarded  as  an  excellent  match 
matrimonially.  In  spite  of  this  fact  he  had 
never  been  known  to  be  seriously  in  love ; 
though,  being  a  quiet  man,  this  experience 
might  have  befallen  him  without  the  knowl 
edge  of  his  friends.  He  was  coming  home 
from  Europe  now,  reluctantly  and  with  re 
gret  ;  but,  since  he  had  a  profession,  it  must 
be  attended  to. 

He  observed  the  tall  young  woman  who 
walked  in  front  of  him  on  her  husband's 
arm  (some  instinct  told  him  that  it  was  her 
husband)  from  an  artist's  standpoint  only. 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN  7 

It  had  occurred  to  him  that  here  was  a  re 
markable  model  for  a  picture.  He  fur 
tively  studied  the  lines  of  her  figure,  which 
was  clad  in  a  long,  tight-fighting  cloak, 
trimmed  with  fur,  and  the  contour  and  color 
of  the  knot  of  brown  hair,  whose  living  lustre 
shone  richly  between  the  dull  fur  that  bor 
dered  her  collar  and  her  hat.  Every  mo 
ment  the  study  fascinated  him  more,  as  he 
followed  and  turned,  as  they  turned.  Sud 
denly  it  struck  him  that  perhaps  his  interest 
in  the  pair  ahead  of  him  might,  in  spite  of 
him,  be  observed ;  and  so,  rather  reluctantly, 
he  took  a  seat  in  one  of  several  empty  chairs 
at  the  steamer's  stern.  Here  he  could  still 
observe  them,  at  intervals,  as  they  came  and 
went.  They  spoke  to  no  one,  not  even  to 
each  other,  though  he  was  convinced  they 
were  newly  married.  Both  of  them  looked 
very  young. 

After  a  few  turns  the  lady  complained  of 
being  tired,  and  proposed  they  should  sit 
down.  Her  companion  assented  by  a  nod, 
and  they  took  the  seats  next  to  Noel.  She 
spoke  English,  but  with  much  hesitation  and 


8  A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

with  a  strong  foreign  accent.  The  man  was 
silent  still,  as  they  seated  themselves  and 
wrapped  their  rugs  about  them ;  for  in  spite 
of  the  full  blaze  of  the  sinking  sun  it  was 
very  cold.  Noel  also  kept  still,  looking  and 
listening.  He  was  a  little  back  of  them, 
and  only  her  pure  profile  was  visible  to  him. 
The  man's  profile,  which  was  also  a  hand 
some  one,  he  could  see  beyond  hers. 

For  a  long  time  there  was  silence.  The 
wind  grew  keener.  The  tarpaulin  which 
covered  the  white  life-boat  near  by  trembled 
from  end  to  end,  as  if  the  thing  hid  were 
alive  and  shivering.  The  sea-gulls  that  fol 
lowed  the  boat  fluttered  and  dipped  about 
in  the  cold  air.  The  sun,  a  great  gold  ball, 
was  sinking  rapidly  in  a  mist  of  pink  and 
yellow  light.  The  wide  stretch  of  water 
underneath  it  was  a  heavy  iron  black,  except 
where,  near  the  ship,  it  was  dashed  into 
green-white  foam.  Noel  looked  at  the  face 
of  the  woman  near  him,  and,  seeing  a  sudden 
light  of  interest  in  her  eyes,  followed  their 
glance  to  where  a  school  of  dolphins  was 
rising  and  plunging  in  the  cold  sea  water. 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN  9 

He  heard  her  call  her  companion's  attention 
to  them  by  a  quick  exclamation  ;  but  he  made 
no  answer,  scarcely  showing  that  he  heard. 

Noel  became  aware  that  the  face  before 
him  was  not  only  beautiful,  but  sad.  There 
were  no  lines  upon  it  of  either  care  or  sorrow, 
but  both  were  written  in  the  eyes.  These 
were  very  remarkable, —  almost  gold  in  color, 
and  shaded  by  thick  lashes,  darker  even  than 
her  dark  brown  hair.  They  were  large,  well- 
opened,  heavy-lidded ;  and  no  wonder  was  it 
that,  when  he  had  seen  all  this,  he  began  to 
desire  to  meet  their  gaze,  that  he  might 
thereby  know  them  thoroughly. 

The  sun  sank.  People  began  to  complain 
of  the  increasing  cold,  and  gather  up  wraps 
and  books  and  move  away  ;  but  still  the  man 
and  woman  sat  there  silent,  and  Noel  did  the 
same.  The  distant  sky  was  tinted  now  with 
colors  as  delicate  as  the  flowers  of  spring, — 
pink  and  cream  and  lilac,  softening  to  a  rich 
line  of  deep  purple  at  the  horizon.  A  slight 
sigh  escaped  the  woman's  lips ;  and  then,  as 
if  recollecting  herself,  she  sat  upright,  and 
looked  about  at  the  objects  near  her.  Her 


io         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

glance  passed  across  Noel,  and  was  arrested 
with  a  certain  amusement  on  the  little  can 
non  lashed  to  the  side  of  the  deck,  which  in 
its  cover  of  white  tarpaulin  had  evidently 
given  her  some  diverting  thought.  Then  in 
the  most  hesitating,  laboriously  constructed 
English,  Noel  heard  her  telling  her  com 
panion  what  it  had  made  her  think  of.  By 
using  a  little  imagination  with  what  he  heard 
and  saw,  he  arrived  at  her  meaning.  She 
was  attempting  to  say  that  it  looked  like  a 
child  on  all  fours,  trying  to  frighten  its  com 
panion  by  throwing  a  table-cloth  over  its 
head.  There  it  was  complete, —  the  head, 
the  hands  and  feet,  the  bulky  body.  Noel 
caught  her  meaning,  and  smiled  involuntar 
ily.  It  was  really  wonderfully  like.  He  con 
trolled  his  features  instantly,  however;  and, 
as  her  gaze  was  fixed  upon  her  husband,  she 
did  not  see  him.  But  her  childish  idea  had 
awakened  no  response  in  the  husband.  He 
simply  asked  her  meaning  over  again,  and 
seemed  unable  to  comprehend  it,  and  not 
sufficiently  interested  to  make  much  effort. 
The  few  words  he  uttered  proved  that 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          n 

English  was  his  native  tongue.  One  would 
have  said  he  had  the  ability,  but  not  the  in 
clination,  to  talk,  while  with  her  the  contrary 
was  true.  Noel,  now  that  he  found  that  she 
was  alive  to  her  immediate  surroundings,  got 
up  and  moved  away.  He  went  and  looked 
out  at  the  sea-gulls ;  but  all  the  time  he  was 
seeing  her  eyes,  and  comparing  them  to 
topaz,  to  amber,  to  a  dozen  things,  but  with 
out  feeling  that  he  had  matched,  even  in  his 
imagination,  their  peculiar  and  beautiful 
color. 

It  was  the  first  day  out ;  and  he  liked  to 
think  that  he  could  occasionally  look  at  this 
face  for  a  week  to  come,  and  when  he  got  to 
shore  he  would  paint  her.  He  had  a  studio 
in  the  suburbs,  to  which  he  often  went  and 
to  which  his  mother  and  sisters  had  never 
been  invited.  It  was  often  a  delight  to  him 
to  think  of  its  freedom  and  seclusion. 

He  was  acutely  jarred  upon,  as  he  stood 
alone  at  the  deck  rail,  by  the  approach  of  a 
man  who  had  a  club  acquaintance  with  him 
at  home,  which  he  had  shown  a  disposition 
to  magnify  since  coming  aboard  the  steamer. 


12          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

He  was  not  a  man  for  whose  talk  Noel  cared 
at  any  time,  but  he  felt  a  distinct  rebellion 
against  it  just  now.  This  feeling  was  swiftly 
put  to  flight,  however,  by  the  fact  that  on 
his  way  to  him  the  new-comer  passed  and 
bowed  to  the  beautiful  girl,  receiving  in  re 
turn  a  bow  and  a  smile.  The  bow  was 
gracious,  the  smile  charming,  lighting  for  an 
instant  the  gravity  of  her  calm  face,  and 
showing  perfect  teeth. 

"Ah,  Miller!  that  you?  How' re  you 
coming  on  ?  "  said  Noel,  with  a  sudden  access 
of  cordiality,  making  a  place  for  the  new 
comer  at  his  side. 

"All  right,  thanks,  considering  it's  the 
first  day  out.  That's  generally  the  biggest 
bore,  because  you  know  there  are  six  or  seven 
more  just  like  it  to  follow.  Pretty  girl  that, 
ain't  it?" 

"  Who  is  she  ?  "  asked  Noel,  refusing  to 
concur  in  the  designation. 

"  Mrs.  Dallas,  according  to  her  new  name." 

"  And  that  is  her  husband  ?  " 

"  That  is  her  husband.  He's  not  a  bad- 
looking  fellow,  either ;  but  you  don't  look  as 
if  you  approved  him." 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          13 

"  I  ?  "  said  Noel.  "  Why  shouldn't  I  ? 
He  seems  a  good-looking  fellow  enough. 
Do  you  know  her  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  know  her.  Everybody  knew 
her  at  Baden.  It  was  not  very  hard  to  do." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  said  Noel,  look 
ing  at  him  suddenly  very  straight  and  hard. 

"  Oh,  I  simply  mean  that  her  father,  who 
seems  a  rather  bad  type  of  adventurer,  gave 
free  access  to  her  acquaintance  to  any  man 
who  might  turn  out  to  be  marriageable.  He 
introduced  me  to  her  as  soon  as  he  saw  I 
had  been  attracted  by  her  looks,  and  I  used 
to  talk  to  her  a  good  deal.  Her  mother,  it 
seems,  died  in  her  childhood ;  and  she  was 
put  to  school  at  a  convent,  where  she  re 
mained  until  she  was  eighteen.  Her  father 
then  brought  her  home,  and  began  assidu 
ously  his  efforts  to  marry  her  off.  It  was 
plain  that  she  hampered  him  a  good  deal, 
but  he  had  a  sort  of  sense  of  duty  which  he 
seemed  to  fulfil  to  his  own  satisfaction  by 
rushing  her  about  from  one  watering-place 
to  another,  and  facilitating  her  acquaintance 
with  the  young  men  at  each." 


i4         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"  And  what  was  the  girl  thinking  of  to 
allow  it  ?  "  said  Noel. 

"  The  girl  was  absolutely  blind  to  it, —  as 
ignorant  of  the  world  as  a  little  nun,  and 
apparently  quite  pleased  with  her  father,  who 
was  avowedly  a  new  acquisition.  She  must 
have  had  good  teaching  at  her  convent ;  for 
she  sings  splendidly  and  is  a  pretty  fair 
linguist,  too.  I  tried  her  in  English,  how 
ever,  and  found  her  so  uncertain  that  my 
somewhat  limited  conversation  with  her  was 
carried  on  in  French.  My  French  is  nothing 
to  boast  of,  but  it's  better  than  her  English." 

"  What  is  she  ?  " 

"  An  Italian,  with  a  Swedish  mother.  She 
seems  awfully  foot-loose,  somehow,  poor 
thing;  and  I  hope  the  marriage  which  her 
father  suddenly  contrived  between  her  and 
this  young  American  will  turn  out  well  for 
her  He's  an  odd  sort  of  fellow  to  me, 
somehow." 

"  Where  does  he  come  from  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know, —  some  misty  place  in  the 
West  somewhere,  I  believe.  I  tried  to  talk 
with  him  a  dozen  times,  but  I  never  got  so 
little  out  of  a  man  in  my  life." 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          15 

"  Was  he  so  deep  or  merely  forbidding  ?  " 

cc  Neither.  H  e  was  good-tempered  enough, 
and  would  answer  questions ;  but  he  seemed 
to  have  nothing  to  give  out.  He  is  a  quiet 
man  and  inoffensive,  but  somehow  queer." 

"  Does  he  play  cards  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all." 

"  Seem  to  have  money  ?  " 

"  Yes,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  he  appears 
to  have  enough  to  do  as  he  chooses  and  go 
where  he  pleases,  though  I  should  say  he 
was  not  extravagant.  He  seems  to  care  too 
little  for  things." 

"He  cares  for  her,  it's  to  be  supposed." 

"  Yes.  He  could  hardly  help  that,  and 
yet  he  showed  very  little  emotion  in  his 
courting  days.  I  used  to  see  them  walking 
together  or  sitting  on  the  piazza  for  hours, 
and  they  seemed  a  strangely  silent  pair  under 
the  circumstances.  I  got  some  key  to  that 
mystery,  however,  when  I  found  that  he 
doesn't  know  a  word  of  French  or  Italian  ; 
and  I  had  already  discovered  her  limitations 
in  English." 

"  Why,  good  heavens  !  how  can  she  know 


16         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

the  man  then  ?  It  is  not  possible.  And  he 
may  turn  out  to  be  anything  !  Do  you  think 
her  father  could  have  forced  her  into  this 
marriage  against  her  will  ?  " 

"No,  I'm  sure  he  did  not.  I  thought  of 
that,  but  I'm  certain  it  isn't  so.  I  think  she 
was  in  love  with  the  man,  as  she  understood 
it,  in  her  convent-bred  sort  of  way.  He's 
good-looking  and  has  a  certain  gentleness  of 
manner.  It  may  be  dulness,  but  it's  what 
women  like.  I  think  her  father,  though  he 
felt  her  a  great  burden,  wanted  to  do  the  best 
he  could  for  her,  without  too  much  trouble. 
He  saw  plainly  the  dangers  she  was  sur 
rounded  by,  and  was  glad  to  get  her  married 
to  a  quiet  young  American,  who  had  no  vices 
and  would  probably  be  kind  to  her.  He 
told  me  he  wanted  her  to  marry  an  Ameri 
can,  because  they  made  the  best  husbands. 
Look  at  them  now.  It  is  always  the  same 
thing, —  either  silence  or  that  difficult  sort 
of  talk.  She  has  to  do  the  most  of  it,  you 
see,  and  in  English.  He  literally  knows 
not  a  word  in  any  other  tongue." 


II. 

IT  was  beautiful  weather ;  and  Noel,  being 
a  good  sailor,  spent  much  of  his  time  on 
deck.  Wherever  he  went  about  the  ship, 
his  eyes  continually  sought  Mrs.  Dallas. 
Her  beauty  and  singular  history  interested 
him  much.  He  also  made  a  close  study  of 
the  husband.  So  far  he  had  not  cared  to 
avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  making 
their  acquaintance,  which  he  knew  Miller 
would  gladly  have  given  him. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  out 
he  looked  up  from  his  book,  and  found  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Dallas  seated  near  him.  He  was 
partly  hid  by  a  pile  of  rope,  over  which, 
however,  it  was  easy  to  see  them.  He  folded 
his  paper  noiselessly,  and,  leaning  back,  began 
to  watch  them  furtively.  As  usual,  they 
were  silent.  The  man  was  smoking  cigarettes 
one  after  another,  and  looking  apathetically 
at  the  water.  The  woman's  eyes  were  on 
the  water,  too ;  but  their  expression  was  cer 
tainly  not  apathetic.  Noel  had  never  been 
»7 


18          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

so  puzzled  to  read  a  face.  He  was  not  only 
an  artist,  but  also  a  very  human-hearted  man  ; 
and  he  longed  to  go  beneath  that  lovely 
surface,  and  read  the  thoughts  of  this  woman's 
mind.  Now  and  then  she  turned  a  puzzled 
gaze  upon  her  husband,  who  seemed  com 
pletely  unconscious  of  both  it  and  her. 
Once  she  spoke,  and  the  strong  accent  in 
her  painstaking  English  was  fascinating  to 
Noel's  ears.  She  only  inquired  if  her  hus 
band  were  comfortable  and  satisfied  to  stay 
here.  When  he  answered  affirmatively,  she 
spoke  again, — this  time  so  low  that  Noel 
caught  only  the  last  word,  "  Robert."  It 
was  pronounced  in  the  French  manner,  and 
came  from  her  lips  very  winningly. 

"  Can't  you  say  Robert  ?  "  said  her  hus 
band,  bluntly.  "  People  will  laugh  at  you 
if  you  talk  like  that." 

"  I  vill  try,"  she  answered,  and  turned  her 
eyes  away  across  the  water.  Noel  fancied 
he  saw  them  widen  with  tears  for  a  moment ; 
and  he  looked  to  see  if  her  companion  were 
watching  her,  but  his  whole  attention  was 
given  to  the  cigarette  he  was  rolling.  In  a 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          19 

few  moments,  at  the  man's  suggestion,  they 
rose  and  walked  away. 

Noel  noticed  that  she  looked  at  no  one  as 
she  passed  along  on  her  husband's  arm  ;  but 
he  interpreted  this  to  be  not  shyness  nor 
self-consciousness,  but  rather  a  sort  of  instinct 
against  giving  any  one  that  opportunity  of 
looking  into  her  heart  through  her  eyes. 

One  morning  a  new  mood  came  over  Noel, 
and  he  asked  Miller  to  introduce  him.  The 
latter  complied  with  alacrity.  Noel  had  no 
sooner  bowed  his  acknowledgments  than  he 
looked  at  Mrs.  Dallas,  and  addressed  her  in 
the  Italian  tongue.  The  light  that  came 
into  her  face  at  the  familiar  sounds  made  his 
heart  quicken.  They  stood  some  time  by 
the  railing,  the  group  of  four, —  Miller  talking 
in  a  desultory  way  to  Dallas,  while  Noel 
spoke,  in  animated,  if  somewhat  halting 
Italian,  to  the  young  wife.  There  was  quite 
a  strong  breeze  blowing ;  and  some  dark  rib 
bons,  which  tied  her  fur  collar,  fluttered  and 
sounded  on  the  air.  She  held  to  the  rail 
with  both  little  smooth-gloved  hands ;  and 
her  heavy  cloth  dress  clung  close  about  her, 


20         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

and  was  blown  backward  in  strong,  swaying 
folds.  They  talked  of  Italy,  where  Noel 
had  once  lived  for  a  while,  and  of  pictures, 
art,  and  music,  for  which  she  had  an  enthu 
siasm  which  made  the  subjects  as  interesting 
to  Noel  as  his  greater  knowledge  made  them 
to  her.  He  found  her  a  genuine  girl  in  her 
feelings,  and  at  once  perceived  her  absolute 
inexperience  of  the  world.  Her  convent 
breeding  came  out  frequently  in  a  sort  of 
quaint  politeness  of  manner,  and  it  provoked 
him  a  little  to  find  that  he  was  being  treated 
with  a  sort  of  deference  due  to  a  superior  in 
age  or  in  experience.  He  felt  himself  aged 
indeed  in  comparison  with  her  vibrating 
youth  and  the  innocence  of  her  simple  little 
life,  which,  up  to  this  point,  had  plainly  been 
that  of  a  child  ;  and  he  dreaded  to  think  how 
soon  and  how  suddenly  she  might  grow  old. 
She  seemed  in  a  world  of  mystery  now,  as  one 
who  had  utterly  lost  her  bearings,  and  was 
too  dazed  to  see  where  she  was  or  what  were 
the  objects  and  influences  that  surrounded  her. 
Out  of  this  shadow  his  presence  seemed  for 
the  moment  to  have  lifted  her ;  and  as  he 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         21 

talked  to  her  of  these  subjects,  round  which 
the  whole  ardor  of  her  nature  centred,  she 
seemed  a  different  creature.  The  restraint 
and  severity  disappeared  from  her  manner, 
she  forgot  herself, —  her  recent  self  that  was 
so  strange  to  her, —  and  over  and  over  again 
he  looked  far  into  the  clear  depths  of  her 
golden  eyes. 

More  than  once  he  glanced  at  Dallas  to  see 
if  he  showed  any  disrelish  of  this  talk,  car 
ried  on  in  his  presence  in  a  foreign  tongue ; 
but  he  was  evidently  not  concerned  about  it  in 
the  least.  He  smoked  his  eternal  cigarettes, 
and  answered  in  monosyllables  the  remarks 
that  Miller  was  making.  He  did  not  look 
bored,  for  that  expression  implies  a  capability 
of  being  interested ;  and  that  he  seemed  not 
to  possess,  at  least  so  far  as  Noel's  experience 
went,  and  Miller's  confirmed  it. 


III. 

NOEL  had  been  at  home  a  month. 
He  had  opened  his  law  office  and  gone 
hard  to  work,  and  his  friends  complained 
that  they  saw  but  little  of  him.  He  had 
learned  from  the  Dallases,  before  parting 
with  them  at  the  wharf,  that  they  were  ex 
pecting  to  go  to  housekeeping  in  his  own 
city,  and  he  had  asked  them  to  send  him 
their  address  when  they  were  established. 

So  far,  it  had  not  come,  and  he  was  begin 
ning  to  fear  he  had  lost  sight  of  them  when 
one  day  he  met  them  on  the  street.  She, 
at  least,  was  glad  to  see  him,  and  when  she 
gave  the  address  and  asked  him  to  call,  the 
husband,  in  his  dull  way,  echoed  the  invita 
tion. 

The  next  evening  he  went  to  the  house, 
which  was  in  an  unfashionable  quarter,  but 
very  charming,  tasteful  and  homelike.  As 
he  sat  down  in  the  pretty  drawing-room 
some  living  objects  caught  his  eye,  and  to  his 
great  amusement  he  saw  that  the  rug  in  front 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          23 

of  the  open  fire  was  occupied  by  a  pictur 
esque  group  composed  of  a  Maltese  cat  and 
four  kittens.  The  mother,  who  was  an  un 
usually  large  and  imposing  specimen  of  her 
kind,  was  seated  very  erect,  her  front  feet 
straight  before  her,  evidently  making  an 
effort  to  enjoy  a  nap,  which  her  offspring 
were  engaged  in  thwarting,  after  the  most 
vigorous  fashion.  They  were  all  exactly 
alike,  distinguishable  only  by  the  ribbons  — 
blue,  green,  yellow  and  red  —  which  orna 
mented  their  necks  and  were  tied  in  bows 
under  their  chins.  The  mother  had  a  gar 
land  composed  of  these  four  colors  around 
her  neck,  upon  which  hung  a  little  silver 
bell.  Noel  had  been  watching  this  pretty 
sight,  with  a  fascinated  gaze,  and  was  so 
preoccupied  with  their  gambols  that  he  failed 
to  hear  a  soft  footstep  approaching,  and  did 
not  turn  to  look  until  Mrs.  Dallas  was 
standing  quite  near  him,  holding  out  her 
hand. 

She  was  dressed  in  a  gown  of  a  peculiar 
dim  shade  of  blue  that  fell  in  free,  straight 
folds  about  her,  confined  by  a  loose  silver 


24         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

girdle  round  the  waist.  It  clothed  her  beau 
tiful  body  in  a  way  that  satisfied  the  soul  of 
the  artist  who  stood  and  looked  at  her,  utter 
ing  light  words  about  the  cat  and  kittens 
and  inaugurating  a  conversation  that  imme 
diately  put  them  at  ease. 

It  was  evident  that  she  was  glad  to  see 
him.  She  told  him  so  at  once.  Her  hus 
band,  she  said,  had  wanted  her  to  go  to  the 
theatre,  but  she  had  been  every  night  for  so 
long  that  she  was  tired  of  it,  and  had  just  de 
cided  to  stay  at  home.  Was  Mr.  Dallas 
then  such  an  infatuated  theatre-goer  ?  Noel 
asked.  Oh,  yes,  he  always  wanted  to  go 
every  night,  she  said.  It  seemed  to  be  a 
confirmed  habit  with  him,  and  she  was  sorry 
to  say  she  did  not  care  for  it  much,  though 
she  usually  went  with  him.  Noel  knew  that 
the  season  was  not  fairly  opened  yet,  and  re 
flecting  upon  the  bills  advertised  at  the  vari 
ous  theatres,  he  could  but  wonder  at  the 
man's  choice  of  entertainments. 

Presently  Dallas  entered  and  greeted  him 
civilly,  though  with  his  usual  apathetic  man 
ner,  and  said  he  was  glad  he  had  come  in, 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          25 

as  he  could  keep  Mrs.  Dallas  company,  as 
he  was  going  to  the  theatre.  Mrs.  Dallas 
looked  a  little  surprised  at  this  announce 
ment  and  suggested  his  postponing  the 
theatre,  so  that  he  might  not  miss  Mr.  Noel's 
visit,  but  he  answered  that  Mr.  Noel  he 
knew  would  excuse  him,  and  turned  to  leave 
the  room.  As  he  did  so  he  stepped  on  one 
of  the  kittens  which  cried  out  pitifully.  It 
had  been  an  accident,  of  course,  but  he 
might  have  shown  some  compunction,  which 
he  utterly  failed  to  do.  The  little  creature 
hopped  away  on  three  feet,  and  Mrs.  Dallas, 
with  pretty  foreign  words  of  pity,  followed 
it  and  brought  it  to  the  fireside  where  she  sat 
down  with  it  on  her  lap,  and  stroked  and 
soothed  it,  laying  the  wounded  little  paw 
against  her  lips  and  making,  what  seemed  to 
Noel,  munificent  atonement  for  the  injury 
inflicted  by  her  husband. 

As  the  kitten  settled  down  contentedly 
purring  in  its  mistress'  silken  lap,  the  front 
door  closed  behind  Mr.  Dallas,  and  turning 
to  his  hostess,  Noel  for  the  first  time  ad 
dressed  her  in  her  native  tongue,  asking  the 
abrupt  question,  "  How  are  you  ?  " 


26         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

She  lifted  her  golden  eyes  to  his  a  mo 
ment,  and  then  dropped  them  under  the 
scrutiny  of  his  gaze,  which  he  felt,  the  next 
instant,  to  have  been  inconsiderate. 

"  A  little  homesick,  I  dare  say,"  he  went 
on,  looking  down  at  the  kitten,  "  that  was 
to  be  expected." 

"  Even  when  one  never  had  a  home  ? " 
she  asked.  "  The  nearest  thing  to  it  that  I 
have  had  was  the  convent  where  I  was  edu 
cated.  The  sisters  were  very  good  to  me. 
It  was  a  sweet  home,  and  of  course  I  do 
miss  it  at  times." 

"  Perhaps  you  had  a  dear  friend  there 
among  the  sisters,  or  possibly  the  pupils." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  she  said,  "  a  dear  girl  friend 
—  Nina  her  name  was.  She  was  a  year 
younger  than  I,  and  was  not  permitted  to 
leave  the  convent  to  see  me  married.  She 
was  heartbroken.  We  had  always  planned 
that  the  one  first  married  was  to  take  the 
other  to  live  with  her.  Her  parents  are 
both  dead." 

"Ah,  then  when  she  leaves  school  she 
will  come  to  you,  no  doubt,"  said  Noel. 
"  That  will  be  delightful  for  you." 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         27 

"  I  don't  know.  It  is  not  certain.  No, 
I  don't  think  she  will  do  that,"  said  his 
companion,  evidently  in  some  confusion. 
"  The  fact  is  I  have  not  written  to  her  —  I 
couldn't.  I  don't  know  what  she  will  think 
of  me,  but  I  cannot  write  to  her.  I  have 
tried  in  vain.  I  fear  she  will  be  hurt,  but 
I  have  done  no  more  than  send  her  a  brief 
note  to  tell  her  she  must  not  judge  me  by 
the  frequency  of  my  letters  —  that  I  love 
her  just  the  same — but  I  seem  really  not 
to  know  what  to  write.  It  is  all  so  strange 
—  the  new  country  and  the  changes  —  and 
everything  being  so  different  —  and  I  feel 
she  would  want  a  full  and  interesting  letter, 
which  I  cannot  yet  compose  myself  to  write. 
This  seems  very  strange,  but  it  will  be  differ 
ent  in  time,  will  it  not  ?  You  don't  think 
this  feeling  of  being  in  such  a  strange, 
strange  land,  as  if  it  couldn't  be  real,  and 
couldn't  be  I — myself — will  last  always, 
do  you  ?  It  will  surely  pass  away.  Oh,  if 
you  knew  how  I  long  to  feel  at  home  —  to 
feel  it  is  a  place  where  I  am  to  stay !  I 
feel  all  the  time  that  I  must  be  just  on  the 


28          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

way  to  somewhere,  and  that  I  have  just 
stopped  here  a  little  while.  But  I  have 
not.  It  is  my  home  and  I  am  to  spend  my 
life  here.  I  try  to  tell  myself  that  all  day 
long  and  make  myself  believe  it,  but  I  can 
not.  I  often  fear  it  will  distress  my  hus 
band  that  I  feel  so,  but  he  has  not  found  it 
out,  I'm  glad  to  say.  He  seems  so  quiet 
and  satisfied,  that  I  feel  ashamed  to  feel  so 
restless.  It  will  go  away  in  time,  will  it 
not?  It  is  perhaps  because  I  am  a  foreigner 
and  this  is  a  strange  land  that  the  feeling  is 
so  strong,  but  it  was  almost  the  same  when 
we  were  in  Italy.  Sometimes  I  am  afraid 
I  have  not  a  contented  disposition,  and  that 
I  will  make  myself  unhappy  always  by  it, 
and  perhaps  my  husband  too,  if  he  should 
find  it  out.  Sometimes  I  cry  to  think  how 
wrong  it  is  of  me.  My  father  told  me  it 
was  my  duty  to  be  happy,  with  a  kind,  good 
husband  to  take  care  of  me,  and  I  know  I 
ought,  but  I  feel  so  homesick  —  for,  I  don't 
know  what  —  for  Nina  and  the  sisters  and 
the  convent.  Oh,"  she  broke  off  suddenly, 
"I  do  hope  you  will  forgive  me.  It  is  very 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         29 

silly  to  talk  to  you  so,  all  about  myself,  but 
I  have  had  no  one  to  speak  to  —  at  least  no 
one  but  my  husband,  and  I  could  not  tell 
him  all  these  feelings  that  I  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of.  I  know  it  is  my  duty  to  be 
satisfied  and  not  feel  homesick,  but  you 
think  it  will  pass  away  after  a  while,  do  you 
not?" 

What  was  he  to  say  ?  The  truth  was 
very  plain  to  him  that  it  would  never  pass, 
but  go  on  growing  worse  and  worse,  as 
gradually  she  came  to  know  her  own  soul 
better  and  to  understand  herself,  in  the  light 
of  the  new  relationship  she  had  entered  into. 
In  the  case  of  most  women  the  revelation 
she  had  so  unconsciously  made  to  him  of 
the  insufficiency  of  her  marriage  would  have 
been  unwomanly,  and  perhaps  it  was  even 
so  in  her,  but  it  was  so  only  in  the  sense 
of  being  childlike.  She  was  really  no  more 
than  a  child,  and  more  ignorant  of  the  world 
than  many  a  child  of  ten.  What  did  she 
know  about  marriage  or  the  needs  of  her 
own  soul  ?  Evidently  nothing,  and  some 
day  he  saw  before  her  a  terrible  awakening 


3o         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

from  this  trance  of  ignorance.  His  heart 
literally  ached  for  her  as  he  sought  diligently 
in  his  mind  for  some  way  to  help  her  and 
could  find  not  one.  The  only  thing  was  to 
let  her  talk  freely,  to  encourage  her  by  a 
gentle  friendly  interest,  such  as  a  girl  friend 
might  have  shown,  and  to  give  her  the  re 
lief  of  expression  for  these  vague  troubles 
and  perplexities  which,  when  uttered,  seemed 
intangible  and  entirely  inexplicable  to  her. 
Not  once  did  she  so  much  as  imply  any 
reproach  to  her  husband,  and  it  was  plain 
that  she  felt  unconscious  of  any  ground  for 
complaint.  She  alluded  to  him  frequently 
and  always  most  kindly,  and  laid  at  her  own 
door  the  entire  fault  of  her  discontent. 

Noel  spoke  little,  but  led  her  gently  on 
to  talk  as  freely  as  she  chose.  Often  she 
would  pause  and  remind  herself  that  she 
was  doing  wrong  to  take  up  his  whole  visit 
with  talk  about  herself,  but  it  was  evident  it 
never  once  occurred  to  her  that  she  had  been 
guilty  of  any  self-betrayal  which  she  should 
not  have  made.  He  saw  her  utter  loyalty 
to  her  husband,  even  in  thought,  and  it  made 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         31 

his  blood  boil  to  think  of  his  stupid  insensi 
bility  to  the  possession  he  had  in  such  a 
wife. 

Gradually  he  was  able  to  soothe  her  — 
or  perhaps  it  was  the  relief  of  utterance  that 
made  her  presently  seem  more  light-hearted. 
Noel  pronounced  a  great  many  platitudes  in 
an  insincere  effort  to  persuade  her  that  things 
would  get  better,  and  somehow  they  seemed 
to  give  her  comfort  for  the  moment.  As  if 
to  put  the  subject  by,  she  called  the  big  cat 
to  her,  snapping  her  fine  slim  ringers,  and 
saying,  "  Come,  Grisette  "  ;  and  the  creature 
jumped  into  her  lap  with  the  obedience  of  a 
well-trained  dog.  Then  she  enticed  the  kit 
tens  to  follow,  one  by  one,  until  they  were 
all  in  her  lap  playing  with  her  ribbons, 
catching  at  her  little  embroidered  handker 
chief  with  their  soft  paws,  and  rolling  over 
in  high  glee.  She  talked  to  them  as  if  they 
had  been  children,  petted  and  chided  them 
in  the  prettiest  way,  and  then  put  them  down, 
one  by  one,  with  a  kiss  on  each  little  soft 
head  that  made  Noel  half  angry  and  wholly 
pitying.  It  was  so  touching  to  see  her  ten- 


32          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

derness,  her  longing  to  expend  the  great 
store  of  love  within  her  —  and  to  see  her, 
too,  so  utterly  without  an  object  for  it. 

The  cat  and  kittens  having  returned  to 
their  place  on  the  rug,  Noel  proffered  a  re 
quest  he  had  been  wanting  to  put  all  the 
evening  and  asked  her  to  sing.  He  had 
found  out  on  the  steamer  that  she  possessed 
an  extraordinarily  beautiful  voice.  Her  face, 
which  had  grown  brighter,  clouded  suddenly. 

"  I  cannot,"  she  answered.  "  I  don't  sing 
at  all.  My  husband  got  me  a  piano,  think 
ing  it  would  please  me,  but  I  have  not 
opened  it.  I  was  afraid  he  would  be  disap 
pointed,  but  he  has  not  noticed  it.  I  used 
to  be  sorry  he  was  not  fond  of  music,  but 
this  makes  me  glad." 

"  Do  you  really  mean  that  you  are  going 
to  give  up  singing?  If  you  do  you  must 
let  me  assure  you  that  it  would  be  very 
wrong,  a  wrong  to  others,  to  let  such  a  voice 
as  yours  be  silent." 

"  Oh,  do  not  tell  me  that,"  she  said,  "  I 
want  not  to  do  anything  wrong,  but  indeed 
I  cannot  sing.  I  have  tried  it  sometimes 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         33 

when  I  sit  alone,  and  it  is  always  the  same 
thing  —  I  choke  so  I  cannot  sing.  I  will 
get  over  it,  but  don't  ask  me  to  sing  yet." 

He  could  not  say  another  word,  especially 
as  the  tears  were  evidently  near  her  eyes, 
and  seeing  that  the  hour  was  late  and  her 
husband,  for  whose  return  he  had  expected 
to  wait,  was  delayed,  he  got  up  to  take  his 
leave. 

"  Vill  you  not  vait  for  Robert  ? "  she 
said,  speaking  for  the  first  time  in  English 
and  showing  already  a  greater  ease  in  its  use. 
"He  vill  not  be  late.  I  haf  not  know  him 
to  remain  so  long  as  this,  since  I  am  here." 

Noel  smiled  to  hear  her,  but  shook  his 
head. 

"  No,"  he  answered,  "  I  must  go  now, 
but  first  I  want  to  get  you  to  give  me  a 
promise."  He  put  out  his  hand  as  he 
spoke,  and  she  placed  hers  in  it  with  the 
confidence  of  a  child. 

"  You  are  in  a  strange  land,"  he  said,  "  but 
I  don't  want  you  to  feel  that  you  are  alto 
gether  among  strangers.  You  may  have 
some  need  of  friends  —  trouble  or  sickness 


34         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

or  some  of  the  things  that  are  always  hap 
pening  in  this  sad  world,  may  come  to  you. 
I  trust  not.  I  hope  to  God  they  may  let 
you  go  by,  but  we  can  never  tell  what  will 
come  to  us,  and  I  want  you  to  promise  me 
that  if  you  are  ever  in  need  of  a  friend  you 
will  write  to  me.  Your  husband  may  be  ill, 
or  something  like  that,"  he  added  hurriedly, 
fearing  he  had  ventured  too  far,  though  she 
showed  no  sign  of  thinking  so.  "  And  if  it 
is  a  thing  in  which  you  want  a  woman's  help, 
I  have  sisters  and  a  mother  and  they  shall 
come  to  you.  Will  you  promise  me  this  ?  " 

"  I  vill.  Oh,  I  vill  promise  truly,"  she 
said.  "  But  vill  you  not  come  more  ?  " 

"  Oh,  perhaps  so,  now  and  then,"  he  said 
hurriedly.  He  could  not  tell  her  he  had 
resolved  not  to,  but  that  was  the  fixed  deter 
mination  which  had  been  the  result  of  this 
evening's  experiences.  He  saw  her  needs  of 
help  and  tenderness  so  clearly  and  he  longed 
so  to  answer  them  that  the  very  intensity 
of  that  longing  was  a  warning  to  him.  If 
he  had  been  a  younger  man,  or  she  an 
older  woman,  he  might  not  have  come  to 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         35 

this  hard  resolution,  but  he  was  experienced 
enough  to  know  that  there  was  danger  in 
such  a  companionship  as  he  was  tempted  to 
enter  into.  If  she  had  been  older  and  better 
acquainted  with  the  world  that  also  might 
have  made  a  difference,  but  it  would  have 
been  exactly  the  same  thing  as  taking  advan 
tage  of  the  unknowingness  of  a  child.  Then 
again,  in  the  third  place,  if  her  husband  had 
been  careful  of  her,  or  even  suspicious  and 
jealous,  he  might  have  thought  it  some  one's 
else  affair  than  his,  and  allowed  himself  the 
delight  of  this  acquaintanceship,  guarding 
and  loving  her  like  a  brother,  but  none  of 
these  supposititious  cases  was  so.  The  mat 
ter  as  it  stood  threw  the  whole  responsibility 
upon  him,  and,  as  a  man  of  honor,  he  could 
see  but  one  course  open  to  him. 

So  he  stood  and  held  her  by  the  hand  with 
a  feeling  that  she  was  his  little  sister,  strug 
gling  with  another  feeling  that  she  was  not, 
and  took  a  long  look  at  her  lovely  face. 
How  he  yearned  to  paint  it,  and  perhaps,  for 
the  asking,  he  might ! 

"  One  thing  more,"  he  said  at  last,  feeling 


36         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

that  he  must  get  it  over,  "  I  have  never 
heard  your  first  name,  will  you  not  tell  me 
what  it  is  ?  " 

"  Christine,"  she  said,  and  as  he  repeated 
it  gently  she  exclaimed  : 

"  Oh,  it  is  truly  a  pleasant  thing  to  hear  it. 
I  have  not  heard  it  since  so  long  a  time. 
Robert  do  say  it  is  too,  vat  you  call  —  I  for 
get,  but  he  call  me  Chrissy,  and  my  own 
name  do  seem  a  thing  forgot." 

"  Good-night,  Christine,"  he  said,  feeling 
sure  he  might  venture  this  once,  "  and  do 
not  think  I  have  forgotten  you,  if  you  don't 
see  me  soon.  I  am  very  busy  —  my  friends 
claim  my  spare  time  —  I  live  very  far  away, 
but  if  you  are  ever  in  any  trouble,  little  or 
big,  and  you  or  your  husband  should  need 
me,  send  a  line  to  my  club,  and  I  will  come 
the  instant  I  receive  it.  Good-by,  be  a 
good,  brave  girl,  and  don't  forget  me." 

During  all  these  parting  words  she  had 
let  him  hold  her  little  hand.  He  wanted  to 
kiss  it  before  dropping  it,  for  it  seemed  to 
him  unlikely  that  he  would  ever  touch  it 
again.  He  resisted  this,  however,  and  merely 
said  good-by  again  and  left  her. 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          37 

Looking  back  before  he  closed  the  front 
door  he  could  see  her  in  the  pretty  drawing- 
room  seated  on  the  rug  before  the  fire,  her 
silk  draperies  crushed  beneath  her,  and  hold 
ing  all  the  kittens  in  her  lap,  the  mother- 
cat  sitting  by,  and  looking  on  contentedly. 
It  was  upon  this  picture  that  he  closed  the 
door. 

Just  outside  he  met  Dallas,  who  apologized 
for  being  late.  He  had  stayed  for  the  ballet, 
he  said,  knowing  his  wife  was  not  alone.  He 
asked  Noel  to  come  again,  but  got  no  very 
satisfactory  response. 


IV. 

DURING  the  months  that  followed 
Mrs.  Dallas  did  not  see  Noel  again, 
and  the  news  accidentally  reached  her  that 
he  had  gone  abroad  with  his  mother  and 
sisters.  He  had  called  on  her  once,  prob 
ably  on  the  eve  of  his  departure,  but 
she  had  been  ill  that  evening,  and  the  ser 
vant  had  excused  her.  It  had  been  reported 
to  her  that  he  had  inquired  particularly 
whether  her  illness  was  serious  and  had  been 
informed  that  it  was  not.  That  was  the  last 
she  had  heard  of  him,  until  she  had  made 
some  acquaintances  in  the  society  in  which 
he  was  known,  and  then  she  occasionally 
heard  his  name  mentioned  and  gained  the 
information  alluded  to. 

Her  introduction  into  this  society  had 
come  about  very  suddenly.  For  a  long 
time  she  had  known  absolutely  no  one,  and 
once,  in  her  intense  longing  for  some  one  to 
speak  to,  she  had  obeyed  an  ardent  impulse 
and  run  across  the  street  to  a  house  where 
38 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          39 

a  young  girl  and  her  mother  lived,  the 
former  keeping  a  day-school  for  small  chil 
dren,  and  had  begged  the  little  teacher  to 
come  over  and  spend  the  evening  with  her. 
Out  of  this  a  friendship  had  sprung,  which 
had  been  for  a  long  time  her  only  resource. 
Her  husband's  habit  of  going  to  some  place 
of  amusement  in  the  evening  seemed  to  be 
an  inveterate  one,  though  he  cared  little, 
apparently,  for  what  he  saw.  She  wearied 
through  a  great  many  evenings  with  him, 
and  then  got  out  of  the  habit  of  accompany 
ing  him.  It  was  evident  he  cared  little 
whether  she  went  or  stayed. 

One  Sunday  afternoon  the  little  school 
teacher  persuaded  her  to  go  with  her  to  a 
great  church  near  by.  They  were  given 
seats  close  to  the  choir,  and  when  a  familiar 
piece  of  music  began  Christine,  in  utter  self- 
forgetful  ness,  lifted  up  her  voice  and  sang. 
When  the  service  was  over  the  conductor 
of  the  singing  came  up  to  her,  and  pleading 
the  common  bond  of  music,  introduced 
himself  and  begged  that  he  and  his  wife 
might  be  allowed  to  call  on  her  to  enlist  her 


40         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

interest  and  services  in  a  great  charity  enter 
tainment  which  he  was  getting  up.  Chris 
tine  agreed,  with  the  feeling  that  it  would  be 
ungracious  to  decline,  and  the  next  day  they 
called. 

The  outcome  of  the  visit  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Jannish  was  an  engagement  on  the 
part  of  Mrs.  Dallas  to  sing  the  leading  role 
in  an  opera  which  had  become  a  cherished 
wish  among  some  of  the  best  amateur  musi 
cians  of  the  city.  The  scheme  had  halted 
only  for  want  of  a  soprano  capable  of  taking 
the  responsibility  of  the  most  difficult  part. 
Jannish  was  an  authority  in  this  musical  set, 
and  he  knew  that  the  acquisition  he  had 
made  for  their  scheme  would  be  not  only 
approved,  but  rejoiced  over.  It  was  such 
an  infinite  improvement  upon  the  idea  of 
securing  the  services  of  a  professional  —  a 
thing  that  they  had  almost  been  compelled 
to  resort  to. 

Mrs.  Dallas  qualified  her  consent  by  the 
securing  of  her  husband's  approval,  though 
she  said  she  felt  sure  he  would  not  withhold 
it.  He  was  out  at  the  time,  but  before  the 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         41 

visitors  left  he  came  in.  He  was  called  and 
introduced  and  the  request  put  to  him  by 
Jannish,  in  his  most  elaborate  and  supplica 
tory  style.  Consent  was  immediately  given, 
with  an  air  of  slightly  impatient  wonder  at 
being  dragged  into  it  at  all.  It  was  precisely 
what  his  wife  had  expected,  and  as  she 
looked  at  him  as  he  spoke,  there  was  a  dif 
ferent  expression  on  her  face  from  that  which 
it  would  have  worn  a  few  months  back. 
That  vague  and  wondering  look  was  less 
noticeable  and  an  element  of  comprehend- 
ingness  that  made  her  eyes  look  hard  now 
struggled  with  it  sometimes. 

After  the  visit  of  Jannish  and  his  wife 
other  people  called,  and  immediately  Mrs. 
Dallas  was  drifting  in  a  stream  of  musical 
engagements  and  rehearsals  that  took  up 
most  of  her  time,  and  formed  a  strong  con 
trast  to  her  former  mode  of  life.  She  had 
opportunities  to  indulge  her  taste  for  dress 
and  to  wear  some  of  the  charming  costumes 
which  belonged  to  her  trousseau  —  bought 
with  what  girlish  ardor,  and  then  laid  away 
out  of  sight!  She  soon  came  to  be  ad- 


42          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

mired  for  her  dressing,  as  well  as  her  beauty 
and  her  voice,  and  as  is  usual  in  such  cases, 
the  men  regarded  her  with  more  favor  and 
less  suspicion  than  the  women.  The  good 
will  of  the  latter  sex  was,  however,  secured  to 
some  extent,  when  it  was  discovered  that  the 
prima  donna,  who  they  all  perceived  was  to 
make  their  opera  a  great  success  and  the  envy 
of  all  sister  cities  with  aspiring  musical  coteries, 
was  apparently  indifferent  to  the  attentions 
of  the  men,  if  not,  indeed,  embarrassed  by 
them.  She  never  went  anywhere,  to  rehear 
sals  or  resorts  of  any  kind,  public  or  private, 
without  her  husband,  no  matter  who  tried 
to  entice  her  away.  She  never  left  his  side, 
except  under  the  necessity  of  going  through 
her  part,  and  then  she  returned  to  him  un 
varyingly.  He  was  good-looking  and  well- 
dressed,  and  some  of  the  company  of  both 
sexes  made  an  effort  to  make  something  out 
of  him,  but  he  always  seemed  surprised 
when  he  was  spoken  to,  and  to  find  it  a 
trouble  to  respond.  He  was  too  free  from 
self-consciousness  to  be  awkward,  and  would 
sit  passive,  twirling  his  mustache  and  look- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         43 

ing  on,  and  was  apparently  as  satisfied  to  be 
a  spectator  of  this  performance  as  to  go  to 
see  something  professional.  He  had  grown 
accustomed  to  sameness,  perhaps,  for  he 
never  seemed  to  object  to  it. 

To  see  his  wife  the  object  of  enthusiastic 
adulation  on  all  sides,  whether  sincere  or 
put  on  of  necessity,  as  it  was  by  some  of 
the  company,  appeared  to  arouse  in  the 
husband  no  emotions  of  either  satisfaction 
or  displeasure. 


V. 

THE  great  occasion  came.  The  even 
ing's  entertainment  rose,  minute  by 
minute,  to  its  climax  of  glory,  on  which 
the  curtain  fell,  amidst  an  enthusiasm 
so  intense  that  only  the  controlled  good 
breeding  of  the  invited  audience  prevented 
demonstrations  of  a  noisy  character.  Chris 
tine  had  been  previously  seen  by  very  few 
of  them,  and  as  the  audience  dispersed,  her 
name,  coupled  with  expressions  of  enthu 
siastic  surprise  and  admiration,  was  on  every 

HP. 

Fifteen  minutes  after  the  curtain  went 
down  the  theatre  was  empty  and  deserted, 
every  light  was  out,  and  profound  silence 
reigned  where  so  lately  all  had  been  excite 
ment  and  animation,  and  the  young  creature 
who  had  occasioned  so  much  the  greatest 
part  of  it  was  being  driven  homeward,  lean 
ing  back  in  the  close  carriage  and  clasping 
close  the  work-hardened  hand  of  the  little 
teacher  who  was  her  companion.  Her  hus- 

44 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         45 

band  sat  opposite,  silent  as  usual,  and  after 
a  few  impetuous,  ardent  words  of  love  and 
appreciation  Hannah  had  fallen  silent  too, 
merely  holding  out  her  hand  to  meet  the 
hard  and  straining  clasp  that  had  seized 
upon  it  as  soon  as  they  were  settled  in  the 
carriage. 

After  the  performance  people  who  had 
leaped  from  the  audience  to  the  stage,  privi 
leged  by  an  acquaintance  with  some  of  the 
company,  had  pressed  forward  eagerly  for 
an  introduction  to  Christine.  Invitations  to 
supper  were  showered  upon  her.  She 
might  have  gone  off  in  a  carriage  drawn 
by  men  instead  of  horses  if  she  had  desired 
it.  But  she  had  turned  away  from  it  all. 
She  was  in  haste  to  go,  and  summoning 
her  husband  and  friend  as  quickly  as  pos 
sible,  she  had  declared  she  was  tired  out, 
and  had  made  her  excuses  with  an  air  so 
earnest,  and  to  those  who  had  the  vision 
for  it,  so  distressed,  that  amidst  the  re 
proaches  of  some  and  the  regrets  of  others 
she  had  made  her  escape. 

She  shivered  as  the  cold  night  air  struck 


46          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

her  face  outside  the  theatre,  and  drew  her 
wrap  closer  about  her  as  she  stepped  into 
the  carriage  which  was  waiting.  The  drive 
homeward  was  silent.  The  two  women  sat 
together,  each  feeling  in  that  fervent  hand 
clasp  the  emotions  which  filled  the  heart  of 
the  other.  Mrs.  Dallas  had  been  roused  by 
something  to  an  unusual  pitch  of  excited 
feeling,  and  her  little  friend,  by  the  intuition 
of  sympathy,  defined  it.  The  way  was  long 
and  Mr.  Dallas,  making  himself  as  comfort 
able  as  possible  on  the  seat  opposite,  took 
off  his  hat,  leaned  his  head  back  and  in  a 
few  moments  was  breathing  audibly  and 
regularly. 

"  He  is  asleep,"  whispered  his  wife,  and 
then,  on  the  breath  of  a  deep-drawn  sigh, 
she  added  in  the  same  low  whisper,  "  Oh, 
God,  have  mercy  on  me." 

"  What  is  it  ? "  whispered  Hannah  tim 
idly,  her  voice  tender  with  sympathy. 

"  Hush  !  I  am  going  to  tell  you  every 
thing.  Wait  till  we  get  home.  I  am  going 
to  tell  you  all." 

She  spoke  excitedly,  though  still  in  a  whis- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         47 

per,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  agitation 
under  which  she  labored  was  urging  her  on 
to  actions  in  which  the  voice  of  discretion 
and  prudence  had  no  part. 

Hannah,  who  had  long  ago  suspected  that 
her  beautiful  friend — whose  face  and  voice, 
together  with  the  luxury  of  her  surround 
ings  and  dress  had  made  her  acquaintance 
seem  like  intercourse  with  a  being  from  a 
higher  sphere  —  was  not  happy,  now  felt  an 
impulse  of  affectionate  pity  which  made  her 
move  closer  to  her  companion  and  rather 
timidly  put  her  arm  around  her.  In  an  in 
stant  she  was  folded  in  a  close  embrace,  the 
bare  white  arm  under  the  wrap  straining  her 
in  an  ardent  pressure  that  drew  her  head 
down  until  it  leaned  against  the  breast  of 
the  taller  woman,  and  felt  the  bounding 
pulses  of  her  heart. 

"  I  am  so  miserable,"  whispered  the  soft 
voice  close  to  her  ear.  "  I  am  going  to  tell 
you  about  it.  If  I  couldn't  talk  to  some 
body  to-night  I  feel  as  if  I  should  go  mad. 
Whether  it's  right  or  wrong  I'm  going  to 
tell  you.  I  can't  bear  it  this  way  any  longer. 
Oh,  I  am  so  unhappy — I  am  so  unhappy." 


48          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

Hannah  only  pressed  closer,  without 
speaking.  There  was  nothing  that  she  could 
say.  She  felt  keenly  that  in  what  seemed 
the  brilliant  lot  of  her  beautiful  friend  there 
were  possibilities  of  anguish  which  her  com 
monplace  life  could  know  nothing  of.  So 
they  drove  along  in  silence  until  the  carriage 
stopped  at  the  door.  Mr.  Dallas  was  sleep 
ing  so  soundly  that  it  was  necessary  for  his 
wife  to  waken  him,  and  he  got  up,  looking 
sleepy  and  confused,  and  led  the  way  into 
the  house,  while  the  carriage  rolled  away,  the 
wheels  reverberating  down  the  silent  streets. 

In  the  hall  Hannah  looked  at  her  friend 
and  saw  that  her  face,  though  pale,  was  per 
fectly  composed,  and  her  voice,  when  she 
spoke  to  her  husband,  was  also  quiet  and 
calm. 

"  Hannah  is  going  to  stay  all  night,  you 
know,"  she  said.  "  You  needn't  stay  up 
for  us.  I  will  put  out  the  lights." 

He  nodded  sleepily  and  went  at  once  up 
stairs,  as  the  two  women  turned  into  the 
drawing-room.  The  lights  in  the  chande 
lier  were  burning  brightly  and  a  great  deep 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         49 

chair  was  drawn  under  them,  upon  which 
Mrs.  Dallas  sat  down,  motioning  her  friend 
to  a  seat  facing  her.  She  was  wearing  the 
dress  in  which  she  had  sung  the  last  act  of 
the  opera  —  a  Greek  costume  of  soft  white 
silk  with  trimmings  of  gold.  It  was  in  this 
dress  that  she  had  roused  the  audience  to 
such  a  pitch  of  admiration  by  her  beauty, 
and  seen  close,  as  Hannah  was  privileged  to 
see  it  now,  there  were  a  score  of  perfections 
of  detail,  in  both  woman  and  costume,  which 
those  who  saw  her  from  afar  would  not  have 
been  aware  of.  Hannah,  who  had  an  ardent 
soul  within  her  very  ordinary  little  body, 
looked  at  her  with  a  sort  of  worship  in  her 
eyes. 

Meeting  this  look,  Mrs.  Dallas  smiled  — 
a  smite  that  was  sadder  than  tears. 

"  Oh,  Hannah,  I  am  so  unhappy,"  she 
said.  "  I  want  to  tell  you  but  I  don't  know 
how.  Oh,  my  child,  I  am  so  miserable." 

Her  utterance  had  still  that  little  foreign 
accent  that  made  it  so  pathetic,  although,  in 
spite  of  some  odd  blunders,  she  had  become 
almost  fluent  in  the  English  tongue.  There 


5o         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

was  still  no  indication  of  tears  in  either  her 
voice  or  her  eyes,  as  she  leaned  back  in  the 
padded  chair,  her  head  supported  by  its  top, 
and  her  long  bare  arms  with  their  picturesque 
Greek  bracelets  resting  wearily  on  its  cush 
ioned  sides. 

Hannah  looked  at  her  with  the  tenderness 
of  her  kind  heart  overflowing  in  great  tears 
from  her  eyes  and  rolling  down  her  cheeks. 
She  pressed  her  handkerchief  to  her  face  in 
the  vain  effort  to  keep  them  back,  but  the 
woman  for  whom  they  fell  shed  no  tears. 
She  sat  there  calm  and  quiet  in  her  youth 
and  beauty  and  looked  at  the  plain  little 
school-teacher  with  a  wistful  gaze  that  seemed 
as  if  it  might  be  envy. 

"  Tell  me,  Hannah,"  she  said  presently, 
when  the  girl  had  dried  her  eyes  and  grown 
more 'calm,  "tell  me  frankly,  no  matter  how 
strange  it  may  seem  to  you  to  have  the  ques 
tion  asked,  what  do  you  think  of  my  hus 
band?" 

This  startling  question  naturally  found 
Hannah  unprepared  with  an  answer,  and 
after  clearing  her  throat  and  getting  rather 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         51 

red,  she  said  confusedly  that  she  had  seen 
so  little  of  Mr.  Dallas,  her  intercourse  with 
him  had  been  so  slight,  that  she  really  did 
not  feel  that  she  knew  him  well  enough  to 
give  an  answer. 

"  You  know  him  as  well  as  I  do,"  his 
wife  replied.  "  As  he  is  to  you  —  as  you 
see  him  daily,  exactly  so  he  is  to  me.  I 
have  waited  and  waited  for  something  more, 
but  in  vain.  I  have  come  at  last  to  the 
conclusion  that  this  is  all." 

Hannah,  between  wonder  and  distress, 
began  to  feel  the  tears  rise  again.  The 
other  saw  them  and  bent  forward  and  took 
her  hand. 

"  Don't  cry,  poor  little  thing,"  she  said. 
"Yes  —  cry  if  you  can.  It  shows  your 
heart  is  soft  still  —  mine  is  as  hard  as  stone. 
Oh,  God,  how  I  have  cried ! "  she  broke 
off,  in  a  voice  grown  suddenly  passionate. 
"  How  I  have  laid  awake  at  night  and  cried 
until  my  body  was  exhausted  with  the  sobs. 
I  have  thought  of  my  little  white  bed  in  the 
convent,  where  I  slept  so  placidly,  for  every 
night  of  all  those  blessed,  quiet,  peaceful 


52         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

years,  until  my  whole  longing  would  be  that 
I  might  once  more  lay  myself  down  upon 
it  and  close  my  eyes  forever.  If  an  angel 
from  Heaven  had  offered  me  a  wish  it 
would  have  been  that  one.  Oh,  Hannah, 
you  do  not  know.  You  ought  to  be  so 
happy.  You  are  so  happy.  Do  you  know 
it?  I  didn't  know  it,  and  I  was  never 
grateful  for  it,  but  always  looking  forward 
to  being  happy  in  the  future,  and  oh,  how  I 
am  punished ! " 

She  wrung  her  hands  together  and  bit  the 
flesh  of  her  soft  lips,  as  if  with  a  sense  of 
anguish  too  bitter  to  be  borne. 

"  I  always  thought,"  said  Hannah,  in  a 
husky  voice  that  sounded  still  of  tears, 
"  that  a  woman  who  was  beautiful  and 
gifted  and  admired,  and  had  a  husband  to 
take  care  of  her,  must  be  the  happiest 
creature  in  the  world.  I  used  to  look  at 
you  with  envy,  but  I  knew,  before  to-night, 
that  you  suffered  sometimes." 

"  Sometimes !  Oh,  Hannah,  it  is  not  some 
times  —  but  always  —  continually — evening 
and  morning — day-time  and  night-time,  for 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         53 

when  I  sleep  I  have  such  dreams !  The 
things  that  were  my  day  dreams  long  ago 
come  back  to  me  in  sleep,  and  when  I  wake 
and  think  of  myself  as  I  am,  I  know  not 
why  I  do  not  die  of  it.  Oh,  Hannah,  if 
you  have  dreamed  of  marriage,  give  it  up. 
Live  your  life  out  as  you  are.  Die  a  dear, 
sweet,  good,  old  maid,  teaching  little  chil 
dren  and  being  kind  to  them  and  taking 
care  of  your  old  mother.  Oh,  my  dear, 
don't  call  yourself  lonely.  Don't  dare  to 
say  it,  lest  you  should  be  punished.  There 
is  no  loneliness  that  a  woman  can  know 
which  can  be  compared  to  a  marriage  like 
mine.  Oh,  I  am  so  lonely  every  moment 
that  I  live,  that  I  feel  there  is  no  com 
panionship  for  me  in  all  this  crowded  world, 
for  the  bitterness  of  my  heart  is  what  no  one 
can  feel  or  share." 

"  Why  did  you  marry  your  husband  ? " 
said  Hannah,  surprised  at  her  own  bold 
ness. 

"  Why  ?  I  am  glad  you  asked  me  that. 
I  will  tell  you,  and  perhaps  you  may  be 
saved  what  I  have  suffered.  If  my  mother 


54         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

had  lived  it  might  have  been  all  different. 
Surely,  surely  a  mother  would  have  known 
how  to  save  her  child  from  what  I  have 
suffered.  A  father  might  not  —  perhaps  a 
father  might  not  be  to  blame,  though  some 
times —  oh,  Hannah,  it  is  dreadful,  but  my 
father  seems  to  me  a  cruel,  wicked  man. 
It  was  he  that  did  it.  What  did  I  know? 
Why  your  knowledge  of  the  world  is  great 
and  vast  compared  to  mine !  I  had  had 
only  the  sisters  to  teach  me,  and  they  were 
as  ignorant  as  I.  My  father  told  me  he  had 
no  home  to  take  me  to,  and  that  Robert 
would  give  me  a  sweet  home,  and  love  and 
protection  and  kindness,  and  that  I  would 
be  so  happy  and  must  consider  myself  very 
fortunate.  He  told  me  that  Robert  could 
not  express  himself  very  well,  speaking  a 
different  tongue  from  my  own,  but  that  he 
loved  me  devotedly  and  that  the  great  ob 
ject  of  his  life  would  be  to  make  me  happy. 
And  so  I  married  him,  glad  to  please  my 
father,  pleased  myself,  as  a  child,  at  the  idea 
of  having  a  home  of  my  own,  and  ignorant 
as  a  child  of  what  I  was  doing." 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         55 

"  And  without  loving  your  husband  ? " 
said  the  little  teacher,  with  a  look  that 
showed  she  could  be  severe. 

"  What  did  I  know  about  love  ?  I  thought 
I  loved  him.  He  was  handsome  and  kind 
to  me  and  my  father  said  he  adored  me  — 
he  told  me  himself  that  he  loved  me.  If 
his  manner  was  not  very  ardent,  what  did 
I  know  about  ardor  in  love-making?  I 
knew  my  not  being  able  to  speak  English 
fluently  must  be  a  hindrance  to  him  in  ex 
pressing  himself,  and  I  thought  he  was 
everything  I  could  wish,  and  never  doubted 
I  should  be  as  happy  as  a  child  with  a  doll- 
house  and  everything  else  that  she  wanted. 
As  I  remember  now,"  she  said  reflectingly, 
as  if  searching  back  into  her  memory, 
"  Robert  was  different  in  those  days  —  not 
an  impassioned  lover,  compared  to  the  tenor 
who  sang  in  the  opera  to-night,  but  com 
pared  to  what  he  is  now,  he  was  so.  There 
was  once  that  he  seemed  to  care  a  little  —  " 

She  broke  off  and  Hannah  spoke: 

"  I  was  thinking  to-night  about  you  and 
whether  you  were  not  in  danger,"  she  said, 


56         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

with  a  certain  air  of  wisdom  which  her  some 
what  hard  experience  of  life  had  given  her. 
"  How  that  man  looked  at  you  as  he  sang 
those  words !  That  wild  passion  of  love 
which  they  expressed  seemed  a  reality.  I 
wondered  if  you  could  hear  them  unmoved 
—  and  a  thought  of  danger  for  you  made 
me  feel  unhappy." 

Christine  did  not  answer  her  for  a  mo 
ment.  A  strange  smile  came  to  her  lips  as 
her  eyes  rested  gently  on  the  little  teacher. 
Eyes  and  smile  had  both  something  of 
hopelessness  in  them,  as  if  she  despaired  of 
making  herself  understood. 

"  That  was  sweet  of  you,  Hannah,"  she 
said  presently,  a  look  of  simple  affection- 
ateness  chasing  away  the  other.  "It  is 
good  to  think  that  there  was  any  one,  in  all 
that  great  crowd  of  people,  who  cared  so 
much  about  me,  but,  my  good  little  friend, 
never  trouble  yourself  with  that  thought  in 
connection  with  me  again.  My  heart  is 
dead  —  so  dead  that  it  seems  weary  waiting 
for  the  rest  of  me  to  die,  and  nothing  but 
the  resurrection  morning  that  renews  it  all 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         57 

can  ever  give  me  back  the  heart  I  had  be 
fore  I  was  married.  It  did  not  die  suddenly 
at  one  blow,  but  it  died  a  lingering  death 
of  slow,  slow  pain.  Think  what  it  is !  I 
am  younger  than  you,  and  already  joy  and 
pleasure  and  hope  are  words  that  have  no 
meaning  for  me.  Oh,  poor  Hannah !  I 
oughtn't  to  make  you  cry,  and  yet  your 
tears  are  blessed  things.  When  I  could  cry 
I  was  not  so  wretched." 

She  leaned  toward  the  girl  and  clasped 
her  close,  kissing  the  teardrops  from  each 
eye  and  soothing  her,  as  if  hers  had  been 
the  sorrow. 

"  I  want  to  be  just  to  my  husband,"  she 
went  on  presently.  "  I  do  believe  he  is  not 
to  blame.  He  gives  me  all  he  has  to  give, 
but  there  is  nothing !  Oh,  when  I  look 
into  my  heart  and  see  its  power  of  suffer 
ing,  and  see,  too,  how  marvellously  happy  I 
might  once  have  been,  I  seem  a  thousand 
worlds  away  from  him  —  my  husband,  who 
ought  to  be  the  very  closest,  nearest,  likest 
thing  to  me !  Perhaps  he  is  not  happy,  but 
at  least  he  does  not  suffer,  and  he  is  always 


58         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

contented  to  live  on  as  we  are  —  no  work, 
no  friends,  no  ambition,  no  interest  in  life, 
except  mere  living.  Oh,  but  it  is  hard ! 
How  long  will  it  go  on  so,  Hannah  ?  "  she 
broke  out  suddenly,  with  a  ring  of  fervor  in 
her  voice.  "  Did  you  ever  hear  of  any  one 
living  on  and  on  and  on,  in  a  life  like  this  ? 
Could  it  go  on  until  one  got  old  and  deaf 
and  wrinkled,  and  can  anything  end  it  but 
death?  It  seems  so  impossible  that  I  can 
be  the  little  Christine  who  used  to  sit  and 
dream  of  happiness  in  marriage,  and  of  the 
handsome  lover  who  would  come  some  day 
and  carry  me  off  to  a  beautiful  land  where 
all  my  dreams  would  be  realized.  I  came 
out  on  that  stage  to-night,"  she  went  on, 
sitting  upright  and  folding  her  beautiful 
arms,  "  and  while  the  people  were  looking 
at  me  and  clapping,  a  thought  came  to  me 
that  made  me  feel  like  sobbing.  I  won 
dered  in  my  soul  how  many  broken  hearts 
were  covered  by  those  lace  and  velvet  gar 
ments,  and  those  smiling,  superficial  faces. 
The  thought  absorbed  me  so  that  I  forgot 
everything  and  the  prompter  thought  I'd 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         59 

forgotten  my  part  entirely  and  gave  me  my 

»» 
cue 

"  I  saw  you.  I  saw  the  strange  look  that 
came  over  your  face,  but  I  did  not  know 
what  it  meant.  And  perhaps  the  people 
envied  you  and  thought  you  must  be  so 
happy,  to  be  so  beautiful  and  admired.  Oh, 
poor  Christine !  I  am  sorry  for  you.  I 
wish  you  could  be  happy.  It  seems  as  if 
you  might." 

"  Tou  might !  Everything  is  possible  to 
you.  There  is  no  reason,  I  suppose,  why 
you  may  not  have  all  the  happiness  I  ever 
dreamed  of,  for,  after  all,  the  beginning  and 
end  of  it  was  love.  And  yet  I  have  advised 
you  never  to  marry  —  for  I  often  disbelieve 
in  the  existence  of  the  sort  of  love  that  I 
have  dreamed  of —  but  how  can  I  tell  ?  I 
know  nothing  but  my  own  life,  and  I  tell 
you  that  is  an  intolerable  pain.  I  sit  here 
and  say  the  words  and  you  hear  them,  but 
they  are  words  only  to  you,  shut  off  as  you 
are  from  all  the  experiences  that  make  up 
my  suffering.  Lately  there  has  been  a  new 
one.  If  anything  could  make  my  life  more 


60         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

miserable  it  would  be  the  addition  of  poverty 
and  privation  to  what  I  bear  already  —  and 
that  is  what  I  am  threatened  with  —  what 
may  probably  be  just  ahead  of  me.  Sup 
pose  that  should  come  too !  Why,  then  I 
should  be  more  unhappy  yet,  I  suppose, 
although  I  have  thought  I  couldn't  be." 

She  spoke  still  with  that  strange  calm 
which  her  companion  had  wondered  at  from 
the  beginning  of  their  conversation.  Her 
manner  in  the  carriage  seemed  to  be  a  part 
of  the  excitement  of  the  evening's  perform 
ance,  but  now  the  cold  calm  of  reaction  had 
come  on  and  she  was  very  quiet.  She  had 
leaned  back  again  in  the  big  chair,  and  looked 
at  Hannah  gravely.  Neither  of  them  thought 
of  sleep,  and  their  faces  expressed  its  near- 
nes^  as  little  as  if  it  were  afternoon,  instead 
of  midnight.  The  last  words  uttered  by 
Christine  had  presented  a  practical  difficulty 
to  her  friend  which  her  own  experiences 
brought  home  to  her  forcibly,  while  they 
shut  her  off  from  a  just  sympathy  with  some 
of  her  other  trials. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  she  said.     "  Isn't 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         61 

your  husband  well  off  and  able  to  support 
you  comfortably  ? " 

"  How  do  I  know?  How  am  I  to  find 
out?" 

"Ask  him.  Make  him  explain  to  you 
exactly  what  his  circumstances  are.  I  won 
der  you  haven't  done  that  long  ago." 

"  You  will  wonder  at  a  good  deal  more  if 
you  go  on.  For  my  part,  I  have  wondered 
and  wondered  until  I  have  no  power  to  won 
der  left.  I  did  ask  him  —  that  and  many 
other  things  —  and  the  result  is  I  am  as 
blind  and  ignorant  this  moment  as  you  are." 
She  spoke  almost  coldly.  One  would  have 
thought  it  was  another  and  an  almost  in 
different  person  whose  affairs  she  was  dis 
cussing. 

"But  how  can  you  be  ignorant?"  said 
Hannah.  "  Does  he  refuse  to  answer  your 
questions  ? " 

"  No  —  he  doesn't  refuse  to  answer  them, 
though  it  is  evident  he  thinks  them  useless 
and  annoying  —  but  generally  he  tells  me  he 
doesn't  know." 

"  Doesn't  know  how  much  money  he  has, 
or  whether  he  is  rich  or  poor? " 


62         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

The  other  nodded  in  acquiescence. 

"  Why,  how  on  earth  can  that  be  so  ? 
Doesn't  he  always  have  money  to  pay  for 
things  as  you  go  along  ? 

"Yes — heretofore  he  has  always  had.  I 
have  needed  nothing  for  myself.  All  the 
handsome  clothes  you  see  me  wear  belong  to 
my  poor,  miserable  trousseau."  She  smiled 
bitterly  as  she  said  it,  but  there  were  no 
tears  in  her  eyes  and  her  voice  was  utterly 
calm. 

"What  makes  you  think,  then,  that  he 
may  not  continue  to  have  plenty  ?  " 

"  A  letter  I  read  without  his  permission, 
though  he  left  it  on  the  table  and  probably 
didn't  care.  I  have  been  troubled  vaguely 
for  some  time  to  find  he  knew  nothing  what 
ever  about  his  business  affairs,  and  that  he 
merely  drew  on  his  lawyer  for  what  he 
wanted,  and  was  always  content  so  long  as 
he  got  it.  Lately,  however,  although  he 
had  been  looking  for  a  remittance,  the  law 
yer's  letter  came  without  it,  and  it  was  that 
letter  that  I  read.  I  saw  he  looked  annoyed, 
but  not  for  long.  He  put  the  letter  down 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          63 

and  spent  the  evening  playing  solitaire,  as  he 
always  does  when  he  doesn't  go  to  the  theatre. 
After  he  went  to  bed  I  read  the  letter.  It 
was  from  the  lawyer  in  the  far  West,  who 
had  always  had  charge  of  the  money  left  by 
his  father  —  and  he  said  that  having  repeat 
edly  warned  him  that  he  could  not  go  on 
spending  his  principal  without  coming  to  the 
end  of  his  rope,  he  had  to  tell  him  now  that 
the  end  was  almost  reached.  He  might  man 
age  to  send  him  a  remittance  soon  by  selling 
some  bonds  at  a  great  sacrifice,  and  as  his 
orders  were  imperative  of  course  he  would 
have  to  do  this,  but  he  notified  him  that 
there  was  scarcely  anything  left,  a  certain 
tract  of  land,  which  was  almost  valueless,  and 
that,  he  said,  was  the  entire  remnant  of  his 
inheritance,  which  could  never  have  been 
very  much  as  he  certainly  has  no  extrava 
gant  tastes." 

"  Why  didn't  you  tell  him  you  had  read 
the  letter  and  ask  him  about  it  ? "  said 
Hannah,  her  rather  acute  little  face  ani 
mated  and  serious  at  once. 

"  I  did." 


64         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"  And  what  did  he  say  ?  " 

"  That  a  woman  had  no  business  med 
dling  with  men's  affairs,  and  that  he  could 
not  help  it." 

"  But  if  it  is  so  why  doesn't  he  get  some 
thing  to  do  ? " 

"I  asked  him  and  he  said  he  couldn't." 

"  But  had  he  tried  ?  " 

"  He  said  he  had  —  several  times." 

"What  could  he  do?" 

Christine  shook  her  head. 

"  I  have  wondered,"  she  said,  "  and  I 
can  think  of  nothing.  He  said  he  was  not 
trained  to  any  business,  and  I  know  no 
more  what  to  tell  him  to  do  than  he  knows 
himself.  The  lawyer  advised  him  to  go  to 
work,  but  did  not  suggest  how.  He  spoke 
as  if  he  did  not  know  of  his  marriage,  for 
he  said  a  man  ought  to  be  able  to  get  some 
thing  to  do  that  would  support  one." 

"  Oh,  Christine !  and  is  this  all  you  ac 
complished  ? " 

"This  is  all." 

"  How  long  ago  was  it  ?  " 

"About  a  week." 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         65 

"And  you  have  gone  through  with  all 
that  rehearsing  and  dressing  and  acting  with 
this  weight  on  your  mind  ?  How  could  you 
doit?" 

"  I  was  determined  to  do  it.  It  kept  me 
from  thinking.  I  could  not  withdraw  at  the 
last  moment.  I  knew  that  as  soon  as  the 
performance  was  over  I  would  have  to  look 
the  thing  in  the  face  somehow,  though  I  am 
more  helpless  than  any  child.  The  thought 
has  pursued  me  through  everything.  It  ter 
rifies  me  less  when  I  sit  and  face  it  calmly, 
so,  than  when  I  put  it  by  and  it  comes 
rushing  back — as  it  did  to-night  while  I  was 
singing  my  last  solo.  I  thought  it  would 
take  my  breath  away,  but  instead  it  seemed 
to  give  an  impulse  to  my  voice  that  made 
me  sing  as  I  had  never  sung  before.  1  won 
dered  to  hear  myself,  and  I  was  not  sur 
prised  the  people  applauded.  It  was  a  love 
song,  but  what  did  I  care  for  the  stupid  man 
who  stood  and  rolled  his  eyes  at  me  senti 
mentally  while  I  sang  it  ?  I  was  in  a  frenzy, 
not  of  love,  but  despair.  This  last  knowl 
edge  that  has  come  to  me  has  put  the  final 


66         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

touch.  To  be  an  actual  beggar,  as  I  may 
be  before  long,  leaves  nothing  more  but 
death  —  and  that  would  be  peace  and  satis 
faction  and  joy." 

"But  surely  your  father  will  help  you 
when  he  understands." 

"  He  has  no  money  generally.  I  know 
he  had  to  borrow  some  to  get  my  wedding 
clothes.  He  explained  to  me  that  the  last 
cent  of  my  little  inheritance  from  my  mother 
had  been  spent  on  my  education.  Besides," 
she  added,  with  a  change  of  tone  that  made 
her  face  harden,  "  I  shall  not  tell  him.  I 
feel  bitterly  toward  my  father.  He  could 
never  have  truly  loved  me :  he  wanted  to 
rid  himself,  as  soon  as  he  could,  of  the  burden 
of  me.  So  I  am  left  absolutely  without  a 
friend.  I  don't  forget  you,  Hannah,"  she 
added  quickly.  "  You  are  my  friend,  I  know, 
and  would  help  me  if  you  could.  Your  love 
can  help  me  and  it  does  and  will,  but  we 
are  poor  little  waifs  together  —  only  you  can 
do  something  to  support  yourself,  and  your 
mother  loves  you,  while  I  am  utterly  help 
less  and  have  no  love  in  all  the  world  except 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          67 

what  you  give  me.  Oh,  Hannah,  you  must 
never  leave  me  !  " 

"Where  is  Mr.  Noel  —  the  gentleman 
you  told  me  of  who  was  so  good  to  you  on 
the  steamer,  and  afterward  came  to  see  you 
and  spoke  to  you  so  kindly  ?  " 

"He  has  forgotten  me  —  at  least  I  sup 
pose  so,"  she  said,  shaking  her  head.  "  Yes, 
he  was  good  to  me.  I  think  he  would  be 
sorry  for  me.  He  has  gone  back  to  Europe 
and  taken  his  mother  and  sisters.  Some  one 
was  speaking  of  them  and  said  they  all  loved 
him  so.  You  and  I  are  more  desolate  than 
most  people,  Hannah.  You  have  only  your 
mother  and  me  to  love  you  —  and  I  have 
only  you." 


VI. 

TH  E  clock  on  the  mantel  struck  twelve. 
Christine  rose  to  her  feet  with  a  little 
shiver.  There  was  a  mirror  not  far  away, 
toward  which  she  turned  and  surveyed 
herself  from  head  to  foot.  As  she  did  so 
the  soft  folds  of  her  Greek  drapery  settled 
about  her,  severe  and  beautiful.  The  masses 
of  her  dark  hair  were  drawn  into  a  loose,  rich 
knot  pierced  by  a  gold  dagger,  and  her  eyes  — 
so  remarkably  beautiful  in  color  and  expres 
sion  that  no  one  ever  saw  them  unimpressed 
—  were  clear  and  steady  as  they  gazed  at  the 
reflected  image  in  front  of  her. 

"  I  wonder,"  she  said,  lifting  her  bare  arms 
with  a  sort  of  conscious  unconsciousness  and 
clasping  her  hands  in  a  fine  pose  behind  her 
head,  which  she  turned  slightly  to  one  side, 
"  I  wonder  if  this  is  the  very  last  of  me  — 
the  very  last  of  the  Christine  who  loved  to 
look  beautiful  and  wear  rich  clothes  and  be 
admired,  and  who  thought  that  she  would 
one  day  be  loved." 

68 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          69 

Turning  away  from  that  long  look  she 
held  out  both  fair  arms  to  Hannah. 

"  Come  close,  close,  Hannah,"  she  said, 
as  the  plain  little  teacher,  in  her  rough  dark 
gown,  was  drawn  into  her  embrace.  "  I  want 
to  feel  some  living  thing  near  my  heart  to 
night,  for  I  am  frightened  and  lonely.  I  have 
told  myself  good-by.  Christine  is  dead  and 
gone  and  I  have  buried  her.  I  want  some 
one  near  me  in  these  first  moments  of  my 
strange  new  self.  Oh,  Hannah,  if  we  could 
die  !  Not  you  —  for  your  mother  needs  you 
—  but  me.  Oh,  Hannah,"  she  said,  in  a 
strained  voice  that  sounded  as  if  it  were  only 
by  an  effort  that  she  kept  her  teeth  from 
chattering,  "  if  I  hadn't  you  to-night  I  don't 
know  what  would  become  of  me." 

Hannah  tried  to  soothe  her  with  soft 
words  of  comfort  and  assurances  of  love. 

"It  will  not  be  so  dark  and  sad  and  friend 
less  as  you  think,"  she  said.  "All  those 
people  who  have  admired  and  praised  you  so 
will  surely  be  good  to  you  —  "  But  she  was 
interrupted  sharply. 

"  I  am  done  with  them,"  she  said,  "  and 


7o         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

done  with  fine  dressing,  and  becoming  col 
ors."  Her  voice  shook,  and  Hannah,  see 
ing  that  she  was  completely  unnerved,  suc 
ceeded  in  persuading  her  to  go  up  to  her 
own  room.  On  the  threshold  she  paused. 

"  Come  into  the  dressing-room  with  me," 
Christine  said.  "  Don't  leave  me.  He  will 
not  wake,"  she  added,  seeing  her  friend 
glance  toward  the  door  between  the  dressing- 
ing-room  and  sleeping-room.  "He  sleeps 
like  a  stone.  I  shall  lie  here  on  the  lounge 
till  morning.  I  often  do.  I  have  lain  there, 
night  in  and  out,  and  almost  sobbed  my 
heart  away,  and  no  one  knew." 

Hannah  braided  the  lovely  hair,  unfas 
tened  the  exquisite  white  and  gold  dress, 
which  fell  in  a  rich  mass  on  the  floor,  and 
out  of  it  Christine  stepped,  looking  more 
lovely  than  ever  and  more  childlike.  She 
caught  sight  of  the  ornaments  she  still  wore, 
and  hastily  taking  them  off"  laid  them  in  a 
heap  on  the  dressing-table. 

"  They  can  be  sold,"  she  said.  "  I  shall 
never  want  to  put  them  on  again.  Oh, 
Hannah,  you  are  so  good  to  me,"  she  went 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         71 

on  in  the  plaintive  voice  of  an  unhappy  child, 
as  Hannah  brought  a  warm  dressing-gown 
and  made  her  put  it  on,  and  little  soft-lined 
slippers  for  her  feet.  "  I  am  so  cold,"  she 
said,  shivering.  "  Some  day  you  will  know, 
perhaps,  how  unhappy  I  am.  You  don't 
know  half  of  it  now,  and  I  cannot  tell  you. 
Oh,  you  have  made  me  so  comfortable,"  she 
added,  as  Hannah  tucked  a  warm  coverlet 
over  her,  on  the  big,  soft  lounge.  "  I  haven't 
had  any  one  to  take  care  of  me  for  so  long. 
Don't  leave  me,  Hannah.  Sit  in  that  big 
chair  and  hold  my  hand  and  let  me  go  to 
sleep.  I  am  so  tired." 

Her  lids  drooped  and  her  voice  fell.  In 
another  moment  she  was  asleep. 

Once  only  Christine  opened  her  eyes,  and 
rinding  Hannah  still  there  said  piteously, 
"  Oh,  I  am  so  unhappy,"  but  the  plaintive 
little  tones  died  away  in  sleepiness,  and  in  a 
moment  she  was  drawing  in  the  regular 
breaths  of  profound  slumber. 

By-and-by,  without  waking  her,  Hannah 
drew  her  hand  away,  and  leaning  back  in  the 
big  chair,  threw  a  great  shawl  all  around  her, 


72         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

and  worn  out  by  the  experiences  of  the  even 
ing,  she  also  fell  asleep. 

Morning  found  them  so.  The  rising  sun 
looking  in  at  the  window  waked  them  simul 
taneously,  and  with  a  remembering  look  on 
both  faces,  they  were  clasped  in  each  other's 
arms.  A  long  embrace  and  then  a  kiss.  No 
word  was  spoken,  and  when  they  met  at 
breakfast  and  were  joined  by  Mr.  Dallas,  the 
manner  of  all  three  was  as  usual.  The  ser 
vant  who  waited  saw  nothing  to  comment 
upon,  except,  perhaps,  that  the  unwonted 
presence  of  a  guest  made  little  difference  in 
the  usual  silentness  of  the  meal. 


VII. 

NOEL  remained  abroad  a  year  and  a 
half  and  came  home  at  last  with  a  new 
determination,  which  he  promptly  put  into 
effect.  This  was  to  begin  in  earnest  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  tired 
of  travelling,  and  even  his  beloved  painting 
was  not  enough  to  satisfy  the  more  insistent 
demands  for  occupation  and  interest,  which 
his  maturity  of  mind  and  character  gave 
rise  to. 

Not  very  long  after  his  return  he  went 
to  call  on  the  Dallases.  He  was  informed, 
on  inquiring  at  the  house,  that  a  family  of 
another  name  now  occupied  it,  and  no  one 
could  tell  where  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dallas  had 
gone.  He  made  inquiries  at  several  places 
in  the  neighborhood,  but  in  vain. 

He  walked  away,  with  a  sad  and  tender 
feeling  in  his  heart  for  the  poor  foreign  girl, 
whose  beauty,  youth  and  childlike  charm 
had  taken  a  strong  hold  upon  his  mind. 
The  annoying  thought  occurred  to  him  that 

73 


74         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

he  had  been  foolishly  prudent  and  appre 
hensive  of  danger.  He  wondered  if  it 
hadn't  been  a  sort  of  coxcombry  in  him 
to  think  there  was  any  danger  to  her  in  free 
and  frequent  intercourse  with  him  !  As  for 
the  danger  to  himself,  that  it  was  cowardly 
to  think  about.  He  wished  he  had  acted 
differently,  and  felt  unreasonably  troubled  at 
•  having  let  the  girl  drift  beyond  his  knowl 
edge.  She  had  looked  so  young  and  ap 
pealing  as  he  had  seen  her  last,  seated  on 
the  rug  with  the  kittens  on  her  lap,  and  so 
beautiful.  No  one  he  had  seen  before  or 
since  was  as  beautiful.  The  type  seemed 
almost  unique.  He  knew  her  to  be  utterly 
ignorant  of  the  world,  and  he  hated  to  think 
what  experience  might  have  taught  her  of  it. 
He  ought  to  have  looked  after  her  more. 
The  reproachful  thought  stung  him.  He 
said  to  himself  that  he'd  be  a  little  more  care 
ful  the  next  time  he  felt  inclined  to  occupy 
this  high  moral  platform  and  be  better  than 
other  men !  He  ought  to  have  seen  that 
common  kindness  demanded  a  little  more  of 
a  man  than  this.  He  was  completely  self- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          75 

disgusted,  and  registered  a  sort  of  mental 
vow  that  if  he  ever  found  the  young  creature 
again  he  would  befriend  her,  if  she  were  still 
in  need  of  a  friend,  and  take  the  conse 
quences.  He  was  not  so  irresistible,  he  told 
himself,  as  to  be  necessarily  dangerous  to  the 
peace  of  mind  of  all  the  women  of  his  ac 
quaintance.  He  had  acted  the  part  of  a  prig 
and  he  was  well  punished  for  it. 

Noel  had  altered  in  some  ways  since  his 
former  return  from  Europe.  For  one  thing 
his  appearance  had  changed.  He  had  now 
a  thick,  close-trimmed  beard,  which  made 
him  look  older  and  graver.  There  were 
some  premature  gray  hairs,  also,  in  his  close- 
cropped  hair. 

The  weather  was  very  hot,  and  his  mother 
and  sisters  had  gone  at  once  to  their  country 
house,  but  Noel  lingered  in  town,  although, 
socially,  it  was  almost  deserted. 

One  afternoon  of  a  very  hot  day,  when 
the  neighborhoods  of  soda  fountains  alone 
were  populous,  and  men  walked  about  the 
streets  with  umbrellas  in  one  hand  and  palm- 
leaf  fans  in  the  other,  with  coats  open,  hats 


76         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

pushed  back  and  frequent  manipulation  of 
their  pocket-handkerchiefs,  Noel,  whose 
sense  of  propriety  admitted  of  none  of  these 
mitigations  of  the  heat,  was  standing  at  a 
down-town  crossing,  waiting  for  a  car.  He 
was  going  to  his  club  to  refresh  himself  with 
a  bath,  order  a  dinner  with  plenty  of  ice 
accompanying  it,  and  then  take  a  drive  in  the 
park  behind  a  horse  warranted  to  make  a 
breeze.  It  was  getting  intolerable  in  town, 
and  he  had  just  determined  to  leave  it  to 
morrow. 

As  he  stood  waiting  he  observed,  on  the 
opposite  corner,  a  woman  carrying  a  baby. 
He  had  a  good  heart  and  it  troubled  him  to 
see  that  the  child  seemed  ill.  He  was  struck, 
too,  with  the  fact  that  the  woman,  although 
closely  veiled,  had  something  in  her  figure 
and  bearing,  as  well  as  her  dress,  which  made 
her  present  position  seem  in  some  way  incon 
gruous.  His  practised  eye  perceived  that 
her  figure  was  good,  and  his  instinct  told 
him  that  she  was  a  lady.  He  looked  at  her 
so  attentively  that  his  car  passed  without  his 
seeing  it  until  it  was  too  far  to  hail.  As 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         77 

another  car,  going  the  opposite  way,  came 
along  and  stopped,  the  woman  got  on  it,  and 
a  resemblance,  which  some  fleeting  move 
ment  or  position  suggested  to  his  mind, 
struck  him  so  powerfully  that  almost  without 
knowing  what  he  was  doing  he  found  him 
self  running  to  overtake  the  car,  which  had 
started  on.  It  was  not  difficult  to  do,  and 
once  having  undertaken  it,  it  would  have 
looked  silly  to  stop,  so  he  swung  himself  on 
to  the  platform.  The  car  was  full  and  he 
did  not  go  inside.  He  saw  the  figure  his 
eye  was  following  take  a  seat  high  up,  and 
turn  the  child  so  that  it  might  get  the  air 
from  the  window.  He  could  see  the  poor, 
little  pinched  face,  utterly  listless  and  wan, 
and  by  reason  of  its  sickness  totally  bereft 
of  the  beauty  that  belongs  to  plump,  round, 
rosy  babyhood.  And  yet  the  child  had 
wonderful  eyes  —  strange,  large  eyes  of  a 
clear,  golden-brown  color  —  the  like  of  which 
he  had  seen  once  only  before.  Memories, 
speculations  and  presentments  seemed  to 
crowd  upon  him.  He  tried  to  get  a  view 
of  the  mother,  but  her  back  was  turned  to 


78          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

him,  and  a  fat  German  woman,  with  a  pile 
of  unmade  trousers  from  a  clothing  estab 
lishment,  almost  hid  the  sight  of  that.  Usu 
ally  he  could  not  see  these  poor  sewing- 
women,  with  their  great,  hot  burdens  of 
woollen  cloth  on  their  knees,  without  a  sen 
timent  of  pity,  but  he  did  not  give  this  one 
a  thought.  His  mind  was  wholly  absorbed 
in  scanning  curiously,  though  furtively,  the 
baby's  poor,  little  white  face,  and  all  that  he 
could  see  of  the  mother's  dress  and  figure. 
Presently  the  car  came  to  a  halt.  The  Ger 
man  woman  got  up  and  labored  down  the 
aisle  with  her  burden  and  got  off,  but  some 
one  quickly  moved  into  the  vacant  seat. 
Still  he  could  see  better  now,  and  the  better 
he  saw  the  stronger  grew  the  conviction  in 
his  heart.  Gradually  the  car  thinned  out, 
and  he  might  have  gone  nearer,  but  some 
thing  held  him  back.  He  kept  his  position 
by  the  conductor,  until  he  rang  his  bell  and 
called  out  the  name  of  a  landing  from  which 
the  excursion  boats  went  out  daily.  Then 
the  woman  rose,  lifting  her  baby  with  gentle 
carefulness,  and  came  down  the  aisle  and  got 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         79 

out.  She  passed  directly  by  Noel,  but  her 
thick  veil  was  impenetrable,  and  yet,  from  the 
nearer  view  of  her  figure  and  the  pose  of  her 
head,  the  feeling  he  had  was  deepened  and 
strengthened.  He  got  out,  too,  and  fol 
lowed  her,  and  as  he  walked  directly  behind 
her,  his  eyes  fastened  on  the  rich  coil  of  her 
wavy  dark  hair,  he  felt  sure  that  this  was 
Christine  Dallas. 

"  Poor  thing !  "  he  said  under  his  breath. 
The  tears  were  near  his  eyes,  but  a  feeling 
of  rage  surged  up  and  overmastered  them. 
Where  was  the  girl's  husband?  Where 
were  all  the  men  and  women  that  ought  to 
have  protected  her  and  given  her  support 
and  companionship  in  this  hour? 

She  toiled  on  in  front  of  him  now,  her 
figure  braced  to  its  burden.  The  baby  was 
light,  but  she  carried  in  addition  to  it  a 
shawl  and  a  small  bag.  He  longed  to  go 
and  help  her,  but  he  feared  to  startle  or 
distress  her.  If  he  had  been  a  stranger  he 
would  not  have  hesitated,  and  he  wondered 
at  the  cruel  indifference  of  the  passers-by. 
They  were  mostly  laborers,  draymen  and 


8o         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

porters,  but  at  least  tney  were  men,  and  it 
made  his  blood  boil  to  see  them  passing  her 
carelessly  and  almost  jostling  her. 

She  got  on  board  the  boat,  which  was  not 
crowded,  and  he  followed  a  little  way  behind. 
It  gave  him  a  sense  of  keen  distress  to  see 
her  threading  her  way  through  groups  of 
rough  men,  who  ignored  or  jostled  her,  to 
the  little  window  where  she  bought  her 
ticket,  and  it  angered  him  to  see  how  indif 
ferently  the  man  sold  it  to  her,  and  pushed 
her  her  change. 

For  a  while  he  kept  at  a  distance,  observ 
ing  her,  however,  as  she  took  her  way,  with 
an  air  of  familiarity  with  her  surroundings, 
to  a  place  on  deck  sheltered  alike  from  ob 
servation  and  from  the  strong  breeze  which 
was  already  beginning.  Here  the  stew 
ardess  brought  her  a  pillow,  handing  it 
without  speaking  and  waiting  significantly. 
She  took  it  in  silence,  then  got  out  her 
purse,  a  meagre-looking  one,  and  put  a 
little  coin  into  the  woman's  hand.  As  she 
did  so  she  said,  "  Thank  you,"  and  the  least 
little  foreign  inflection  —  a  lingering  diffi- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          81 

culty  with  the  "  th  " — gave  Noel  the  last 
assurance  that  he  needed.  How  unfor- 
gotten  the  voice  was !  He  believed  he 
would  almost  have  recognized  it  without 
any  words. 

The  woman  made  no  reply,  but  pocketed 
her  fee  and  walked  away.  Then  Noel,  who 
had  seated  himself  quite  near,  with  his  face 
so  turned  that  he  could  see  her  without  the 
appearance  of  gazing  at  her  directly,  set 
himself  to  watch  what  followed.  There  was 
no  one  else  near  and  it  was  evident  that 
she  had  not  observed  him.  Indeed,  she 
did  not  look  about  her  at  all,  but  kept  her 
eyes  on  the  baby,  whose  apathetic  little  face 
did  not  change.  Shaking  and  smoothing 
the  pillow  she  laid  it  on  the  seat  and  ten 
derly  placed  her  baby  on  it.  The  boat  had 
started  and  the  breeze,  delicious  as  it  was 
to  a  strong  person,  might  yet  be  too  much 
for  a  sick  child,  and  this  the  mother  plainly 
feared,  for  she  hastily  hung  her  shawl  over 
the  railing  beside  the  pillow.  But  this  she 
soon  discovered  kept  off  too  much  air. 
Noel  could  note  her  mental  processes  and 


82          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

comprehend  them  as  he  saw  her  put  up  her 
hand  to  loosen  her  thick  veil. 

His  pulses  quickened.  He  was  sure  al 
ready,  and  yet  a  figure,  a  pose,  a  knot  of 
hair,  even  a  voice  and  accent  might  deceive 
him.  So  he  watched  intently  as  she  un 
fastened  her  veil  and  took  it  off.  The 
brim  of  her  hat  was  narrow  and  left  her 
face  fully  exposed. 

It  was  Christine  Dallas  —  a  girl  no  longer, 
no  longer  blooming  and  childlike  and  won 
dering —  but  saddened,  matured,  mysteri 
ously  changed,  with  more  than  the  old 
charm  for  him  in  her  exquisite  woman- 
face.  It  was  turned  to  him  in  profile,  dis 
tinct  against  the  distant  sky,  and  the  re 
membered  eyes  were  veiled  by  their  dark- 
fringed  lids,  as  she  looked  down  upon  her 
child. 

The  veil,  ingeniously  fastened  with  a  few 
pins,  proved  a  convenient  awning.  She  laid 
her  arm  above  it  on  the  rail,  as  she  bent  her 
head  toward  the  baby.  Although  the  eyes 
were  hid,  the  mouth  —  in  her  a  feature  of 
extreme  sensitiveness  —  told  the  story  of 
past  suffering  and  present  pain. 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          83 

What  a  face  !  No  artist  had  ever  had  a 
model  such  as  that  before  him,  and  the  pale 
attenuation  of  the  sick  child  was  almost  as 
interesting  a  subject.  But  Noel  never 
thought  of  it.  For  once  the  artist  in  him 
became  subservient,  and  he  looked  on  with 
no  feeling  but  a  pity  so  great  that  it  abso 
lutely  filled  his  heart  and  left  no  room  for 
any  other. 

The  mother's  suffering  face  put  on  a 
smile,  and  she  made  a  little  kissing  sound 
with  her  lips  to  try  to  attract  the  baby's 
notice,  and  rouse  it  from  its  apathy. 

"  Mother's  precious  little  pigeon,"  she 
said  caressingly,  and  catching  the  thin  little 
face  between  her  soft  thumb  and  forefinger 
and  giving  it  a  loving  twitch.  But,  instead 
of  smiling  back  at  her,  a  piteous  little  tremor 
came  around  the  baby's  mouth.  His  thin 
forehead  wrinkled  and  he  began  to  whimper. 

She  caught  him  to  her  heart  with  a  mo 
tion  of  passionate  love  and  pity,  and  began 
to  rock  her  body  to  and  fro  as  she  held 
him  there. 

"Did  mother  hurt  her  baby?"  she  said, 


84         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

speaking  in  low  tones  of  keenest  self-re 
proach.  "  There,  then,  mother  wouldn't 
trouble  him  any  more !  Mother  was  bad 
and  naughty  to  try  to  make  her  boy  laugh 
when  he  was  so  sick !  Mother  loves  her 
baby,  that  she  does,  and  when  her  little 
man  gets  well  he'll  play  and  laugh  with 
mother  then,  won't  he  ?  " 

The  whimper  died  away,  and  when  the 
soft  crooning  and  rocking  had  continued  a 
little  while  the  baby  dropped  its  weary  lids 
and  slept.  She  laid  him  in  her  lap,  raising 
her  knee  to  elevate  his  head,  by  resting  her 
foot  on  the  round  of  a  chair.  He  sank  into 
his  new  position  with  a  tremulous  sigh,  and 
slept  on.  And  as  he  slept  she  watched 
him,  her  great  eyes  fastened  on  his  thin 
little  face  with  a  look  as  if  she  would  devour 
it  with  love.  Afraid  to  touch  him,  lest  he 
should  wake,  she  caught  the  folds  of  his 
dress  in  her  hand  with  a  strength  that 
strained  its  sinews,  as  if  she  were  afraid  he 
would  be  snatched  away  from  her. 

Noel,  who  had  expected  every  moment 
that  she  would  turn,  had  now  ceased  to  look 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          85 

for  it.  She  was  evidently  unconscious  of 
everything,  herself  included,  except  the  child. 
As  she  bent  her  head  above  it,  never  taking 
her  eyes  from  its  wan  little  countenance,  the 
look  of  hungry  love  that  came  to  her  was 
stronger  than  any  look  he  had  ever  seen  ex 
pressed  upon  a  face  before.  Presently,  as  if 
unable  to  resist  the  impulse,  she  took  one 
of  the  little  hands,  blue-white  for  lack  of 
blood,  and  held  it  in  her  own.  He  could 
divine  the  fact  that  it  cost  her  an  effort  not 
to  squeeze  it  hard.  Her  eyes  fastened  on  it 
hungrily,  and  then  looked  into  the  pinched 
little  face.  Evidently  this  sleep  was  some 
thing  coveted,  for  she  made  these  slight 
movements  with  the  utmost  caution,  and  did 
not  venture  to  change  her  constrained  posi 
tion.  And  as  she  so  watched  the  baby, 
Noel,  keeping  as  profoundly  still,  watched 
her.  He  saw  that  her  plain,  gray  costume, 
charmingly  fashioned  as  it  was,  was  yet  some 
what  worn  and  shabby,  as  if  from  over-long 
usage  ;  that  her  round  straw  hat  was  shabby, 
too,  and  one  of  her  little  boots,  cut  and  fin 
ished  in  such  a  pretty,  foreign  fashion,  had  a 


86         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

small  hole  in  it.  The  long  glove  on  her  left 
hand  was  ripped  at  the  finger-ends.  The 
right  hand  was  bare,  and  looked  very  strong 
and  healthy  as  it  held  the  little  feeble  one. 
With  her  other  hand  she  was  holding  a  fan 
between  her  child's  eyes  and  the  sun.  She 
had  never  ceased  a  little  rocking  motion  of 
the  knee.  Oh,  if  she  could  only  keep  him 
asleep  !  her  whole  attitude  and  motion  seemed 
to  say.  Now  and  then  she  uttered  low, 
hushing  sounds  as  a  pang  of  pain  would  con 
tract  the  baby's  face,  and  threaten  to  waken 
him.  These  little  noises  came  to  Noel  faintly, 
and  he  felt  himself  sharing  with  her  this  in 
tense  desire  to  keep  the  child  asleep.  Sud 
denly,  above  the  soothing  monotone  of  the 
vessel's  motion,  there  was  a  sharp  steam- 
whistle.  Christine  gave  a  little  smothered 
cry,  and  the  next  instant  burst  into  tears. 
It  was  too  much  for  her  over-strung  nerves. 
At  the  same  moment  the  baby  waked  and 
began  to  cry  weakly.  The  sound  recalled 
her  to  herself  and  she  took  the  little  creature 
in  her  arms  and  rocked  and  hushed  it,  at  the 
same  time  fighting  with  her  own  sobs,  brush- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          87 

ing  away  her  tears  with  a  fold  of  the  baby's 
dress  and  trying  to  speak  to  it  soothingly. 
But  she  was  utterly  unnerved,  and  the  tears 
and  sobs  kept  coming  back  even  while  she 
spoke  those  calming,  loving  words. 

Noel  could  bear  it  no  longer.  He  was 
afraid  of  increasing  her  agitation,  but  he  felt 
he  must  go  to  her  aid.  So  he  took  quietly 
the  few  steps  that  brought  him  to  her  and 
said  gently  : 

"  Christine,  give  the  baby  to  me.  Don't 
mind  my  seeing  you.  Don't  mind  anything, 
but  just  try  to  be  quiet  and  rest  a  little.  I 
will  help  you." 

She  looked  at  him  an  instant  without  rec 
ognition,  then  a  gleam  of  comprehension 
came  into  her  eyes,  and  in  a  confused,  weak 
way  she  let  him  take  the  baby,  and  falling 
back  upon  the  seat  she  hid  her  face  in  her 
hands  and  fell  to  sobbing.  Noel,  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life  holding  a  young  baby  in, 
his  arms,  was  yet  skilful  with  it,  since  noth 
ing  but  strength  and  tenderness  were  required, 
and  he  had  both.  He  soothed  the  little 
creature  into  silence,  walking  backward  and 


88         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

forward  a  few  steps,  and  watching  Christine 
intently,  without  speaking  to  her.  It  was 
only  a  moment  or  two  that  she  gave  way, 
and  he  felt  it  would  relieve  her.  She  wiped 
her  eyes  and  sat  up. 

"  I  don't  know  what  made  me  do  it,"  she 
said.  "  I  have  never  done  so  before.  It  is 
so  foolish ;  but  I  did  so  want  baby  to  stay 
asleep,  and  I  was  hoping  nothing  would 
wake  him,  and  the  whistle  scared  me  so. 
Let  me  have  him  now,  Mr.  Noel.  Thank 
you,  oh,  thank  you.  Perhaps  he  feels  bet 
ter.  He  has  had  a  nice  little  sleep." 

Noel  would  have  kept  the  child,  but  he 
saw  she  was  not  to  be  prevented  from  taking 
it,  and  when  she  had  got  it  in  her  arms  she 
began  to  look  at  it  and  talk  to  it  and  walk 
it  about  with  every  appearance  of  having 
forgotten  Noel  altogether.  He  had  called 
her  Christine  under  impulse,  and  he  now  re 
called  the  fact  that  she  had  taken  it  simply 
and  without  any  protest.  On  the  whole,  he 
was  glad.  To  have  called  her  by  the  formal 
name  by  which  he  had  known  her  might 
have  struck  some  chord  of  pain.  He  did 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         89 

not  even  know  that  she  bore  it  still.  Dallas 
might  be  dead  or  worse  than  dead  to  her. 
A  score  of  possibilities  suggested  themselves 
to  his  mind.  But  he  felt  he  must  try,  if 
possible,  to  make  her  understand  him. 

"  Poor  little  ill  baby,"  he  said,  going  close 
to  her  side,  where  she  stood  by  the  railing 
with  the  baby  laid  upon  her  shoulder,  her 
head  tilted  so  as  to  rest  her  cheek  on  his. 
"  I  hope  he  is  better.  I  am  so  glad  I  saw 
you,  Christine.  You  must  let  me  help  you, 
exactly  as  if  I  were  your  brother,  for  no 
brother  could  want  to  help  you  more.  I 
really  think  I  forgot  I  wasn't  when  I  called 
you  by  your  name  just  now.  But  you  didn't 
mind  it,  did  you  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,"  she  said  simply.  "  But  where 
did  you  come  from  ?  "  she  asked,  as  if  the 
question  had  just  occurred  to  her. 

"  Let  us  say  from  the  skies,"  he  answered, 
smiling.  "  I  think  my  good  angel  must  have 
sent  me  to  take  care  of  you.  Sit  down,  if 
you  will  hold  the  baby.  Let  me  make  you 
more  comfortable." 

He   went  and  brought   a   large  and  easy 


9o          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

chair  from  some  unknown  quarter  and  made 
her  sit  in  it.  Then,  saying  he  would  be  back 
presently,  he  walked  away.  Before  he  re 
turned  the  stewardess  appeared,  smiling  and 
obsequious,  making  a  profuse  offer  of  her 
services  to  hold  the  baby,  or  to  do  anything 
desired  of  her.  She  brought  a  comfortable 
hassock,  which  she  placed  under  Christine's 
feet,  and  only  the  latter's  determination  pre 
vented  her  from  taking  possession  of  the 
baby.  She  told  her  exactly  where  she  was 
to  be  found  in  case  she  should  be  wanted, 
and  ended  by  presenting  her  with  a  key 
which,  she  told  her,  would  open  a  stateroom 
at  the  head  of  the  stairs.  As  the  woman 
walked  away  Noel  returned.  Christine  told 
him  how  kind  the  stewardess  had  been,  and 
said  that  she  had  never  known  there  were 
any  staterooms  on  board,  this  being  an  ex 
cursion  boat. 

"  Oh,  there  are  generally  two  or  three," 
said  Noel  carelessly,  "  for  the  people  to  go 
to  when  they  want  to  rest.  If  you'd  like  to, 
we'll  go  now  and  inspect." 

Evidently    the    prospect    pleased    her,  so 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         91 

they  went  together,  but  she  refused  to  allow 
him  to  carry  the  baby,  or  even  to  send  for 
the  woman.  When  they  opened  the  door 
everything  was  clean  and  fresh,  as  if  just 
prepared  for  them.  Christine  looked  about 
her  with  an  air  of  relief  that  it  rejoiced  him 
to  see.  He  told  her  to  get  a  little  rest,  if  she 
could,  and  that  he  would  stroll  about  for  a 
while  and  come  back  for  her.  She  went  in 
and  closed  the  door  and  he  turned  away.  In 
a  few  minutes  the  stewardess  knocked,  to 
offer  her  services,  and  Christine,  as  she  ac 
cepted  them,  felt  a  sudden  change  as  to  her 
whole  surrounding  atmosphere. 

Noel,  meanwhile,  had  gone  up  on  deck, 
and  was  walking  about  and  looking  around 
him  curiously.  He  was  certainly  out  of  his 
element,  but  his  habits  of  life  had  been  such 
as  to  make  him  feel  at  home  almost  any 
where.  What  he  rebelled  at  was  the  thought 
of  Christine  being  in  this  place.  Her  dis 
tress  of  mind  and  her  poverty  seemed  so  in 
decently  exposed  to  view.  He  lingered  a 
while  in  the  thick  of  the  crowd,  torturing 
himself  with  the  horrible  incongruity  between 


92         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

it  and  the  poor,  dear  woman  in  the  stateroom 
below.  He  had  contrived  to  have  put  at  her 
disposal  the  best  the  boat  afforded,  but  it 
was  abominably  meagre.  What  business  had 
she  here  at  all  ?  It  was  no  place  for  her. 
His  whole  nature  rebelled  at  it,  and  he  grew 
savage  as  he  thought  that  it  was  no  business 
of  his  to  put  it  right. 

Throwing  his  cigar  away  he  went  below 
and  knocked  very  gently  at  the  stateroom 
door.  It  was  opened  by  Christine,  who 
had,  perhaps,  bathed  her  face,  for  the  traces 
of  tears  were  almost  gone,  though  enough 
remained  to  give  her  eyes  an  appealingness 
that  went  to  his  very  heart. 

"Well,"  he  said,  in  that  tentative  tone 
which  admits  of  any  sort  of  answer. 

She  looked  immediately  at  the  baby  lying 
on  the  berth  and  stood  aside  to  let  him  see. 
"  He  is  quiet,"  she  said.  "  I  don't  think  he 
is  in  any  pain.  I  am  going  to  take  him  on 
deck  again.  The  doctor  said  the  only  thing 
for  him  was  change  of  air.  I  couldn't  take 
him  away,  so  he  said  to  bring  him  down  here 
on  the  water  every  afternoon  would  do  him 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         93 

good,  and  I've  been  bringing  him  every 
day." 

"  And  is  he  better  ?  "  Noel  said,  forcing 
himself  to  appear  to  be  thinking  chiefly  of 
the  child.  He  saw  that  the  idea  absorbed 
her  so  completely  that  she  had  no  thought 
of  herself  and  apparently  none  of  him,  and 
this  was  well. 

"  His  fever  is  not  so  high,"  she  said. 
"  Oh,  he  has  been  so  ill.  Once  I  thought 
—  "  but  she  broke  off  unable  to  speak,  and 
turning  toward  the  berth  caught  up  the  child 
with  the  fervor  of  passion,  though  she  did 
not  forget  to  touch  him  tenderly,  and  held 
him  close  against  her.  Then  she  put  on  his 
little  head  a  muslin  cap  that  perhaps  had 
fitted  him  once  but  was  now  pitifully  large, 
and  carried  her  light  burden  out  into  the 
saloon  and  up  the  steps,  refusing  Noel's 
offer  to  help  her.  They  went  back  to  their 
old  places,  which  were  quiet  and  away  from 
the  crowd,  and  when  Noel  had  made  her  as 
comfortable  as  he  could,  he  drew  his  chair 
near  and  sat  down.  And  then  the  watch 
began  again.  He  looked  at  her,  and  she 


94         A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

looked  down  at  the  baby  on  her  lap,  and 
apparently  the  baby  was  no  more  uncon 
scious  of  the  gaze  bent  on  him  than  Christine 
was  of  the  look  with  which  Nod  steadily 
regarded  her.  He  "burned  to  ask  her  ques 
tions  as  to  what  had  taken  place  since  he 
had  seen  her  last,  but  he  feared  to  waken 
her  horn  her  unconsciousness.  It  was  evi 
dent  that  she  accepted  him  as  *  simple  fact. 
He  had  come  and  here  he  was.  If  he 
helped  her  to  take  care  of  the  baby  it  was 
all  right  and  she  was  glad.  Not  a  scruple 
as  to  the  acceptance  of  the  help  had  occurred 
to  her.  He  saw  this  and  was  too  thanMfrl 
tor  it  not  to  be  willing  to  take  precautions 
against  interrupting  this  most  satisfactory 
cuuise  of  things. 

The  child  would  die,  he  felt  sure  of  that, 
and  his  heart  quivered  to  think  how  she 
would  suffer.  And  who  was  there  to  help 
her  to  bear  it?  He  almost  wished  he  was 
in  truth  her  brother,  that  his  might  naturally 
be  that  right;  almost,  but  not  quite.  Well, 
he  wished  a  great  many  Tain  and  useless 
things  as  he  sat  there  opposite  to  her,  con- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         95 

scious  that  she  had  forgotten  him.  He 
moved,  and  even  coughed,  but  she  took  no 
notice.  The  baby's  little  mouth  twitched 
slightly  and  her  whole  being  became  acutely 
conscious.  She  changed  its  position  and 
words  of  passionate  lovingness  crowded  upon 
her  lips.  But  instead  of  responding  to  them, 
it  began  to  whimper  fretfully  —  a  sound  that 
brought  a  spasm  of  positive  anguish  across 
her  face. 

"  There,  then,  mother's  little  dear  lamb 
that  mother  has  hurt  and  troubled  !  Mother 
loves  her  little  man,  and  he'll  get  well  and 
make  poor  mother  happy  again  —  won't 
he?" 

It  was  some  time  before  the  child  coulu 
be  quieted.  The  peevish  little  whine  almost 
angered  Noel  when  he  saw  how  it  was  cut 
ting  into  Christine's  heart.  In  the  hope  of 
diverting  the  baby  he  put  out  his  hand  and 
began  to  snap  his  ringers  softly  in  front  of 
its  face.  There  was  a  ring  on  the  hand  that 
sparkled,  and  the  baby  saw  it  and  stretched 
out  his  little  hand  toward  it.  A  gleam  of 
pure  delight  came  into  the  mother's  face. 


96          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"He  hasn't  noticed  anything  for  days," 
she  said,  catching  Noel's  hand  in  an  ardent 
grasp  and  holding  it  so  that  the  baby  could 
see  the  ring.  He  felt  her  fingers  close  upon 
it  almost  lovingly.  He  knew  she  could 
have  kissed  it,  because  it  had  for  that  second 
been  of  interest  to  her  child  —  and  with  no 
knowledge  that  it  was  in  any  way  different 
from  the  ring  upon  it.  When  the  baby 
turned  away  from  it  fretfully  she  let  it  drop. 

At  last  the  little  invalid  went  to  sleep  in 
Christine's  lap.  The  boat,  which  was  not 
to  land  but  went  only  for  the  excursion  on 
the  water,  had  turned  and  they  were  going 
back  toward  the  city.  The  breeze  that 
played  around  Christine's  bent  head  blew 
little  curly  strands  about  her  face  and  called 
a  faint  flush  into  her  cheeks.  Noel  noted 
everything. 

Night  began  to  draw  on  and  she  could  no 
longer  see  the  baby's  face  distinctly.  She 
drew  the  end  of  a  light  shawl  over  him,  say 
ing  as  she  did  so : 

"  The  doctor  says  this  is  the  best  of  all  — 
the  coming  back  in  the  fresh  evening  air." 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN          97 

She  sat  up  in  her  place  then,  and  Noel 
could  see  that  she  kept  her  hand  upon  her 
baby's  pulse. 

"Do  you  ever  sing  now ?  "  he  asked 
abruptly. 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  No  —  except  little  songs  to  baby." 

"  I  heard  while  I  was  in  Europe  of  your 
making  an  immense  hit  in  the  amateur  opera. 
Why  did  you  stop  ?  " 

"  I  was  forced  to.  Those  people  com 
pelled  me.  I  don't  know  why,  but  they 
looked  on  me  as  something  apart  from  them. 
The  women  were  strange  and  unfriendly, 
and  the  men  —  I  don't  know,"  she  broke 
off  confusedly,  "  but  it  is  all  hateful  to  me 
to  think  of.  I  was  glad  to  get  away  from 
them.  The  night  of  the  opera  was  the  last 
time.  Oh,  if  my  baby  will  get  well,"  she 
said,  bending  to  touch  his  thin  hair  with  her 
lips,  "  I  will  never  need  anything  but  him. 
You  believe  in  prayer  —  don't  you?  Will 
you  pray  to  God  to  make  him  well  ? " 

Noel  promised  with  a  willingness  that 
seemed  to  comfort  her.  Absorbed  in  the 


98          A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

child  once  more,  she  soon  seemed  to  forget 
him  and  silence  fell  between  them  again. 
It  was  scarcely  broken  during  the  whole 
return  trip.  She  seemed  to  have  nothing  to 
say  to  him.  When  she  spoke  to  him  at  all 
her  thrilling  voice  dropped  to  a  whisper,  and 
it  was  always  to  give  some  information  about 
the  baby.  Once  she  said  with  fervent  inter 
est,  "He  is  asleep,"  and  once  she  told  him 
that  his  skin  felt  cool  and  natural.  This 
was  all.  It  must  be  owned  that  Noel  didn't 
think  very  lovingly  of  that  poor  atom  of 
humanity  as  he  sat  there.  It  was  the  baby 
that  had  caused  her  to  be  in  this  false  posi 
tion,  which  he  felt  so  keenly,  and  it  was 
terror  for  the  baby  which  brought  that  suf 
fering  look  to  her  face.  And  yet  something 
of  the  same  feeling  was  in  his  own  breast  as 
he  palpitated  at  the  thought  of  this  little 
creature's  dying  and  breaking  the  heart  of 
its  mother,  who  plainly  loved  it  with  the  ab- 
sorbingness  of  the  first  passion  she  had  ever 
known. 

When  they  reached  the  wharf  it  was  quite 
dark,  and  the  electric  lights  and  publicity  of 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         99 

the  place  made  Noel  shrink  so  from  the 
thought  of  exposing  the  girl,  in  her  suffer 
ing,  to  the  gaze  of  such  men  and  women  as 
he  saw  about  him,  that,  without  consulting 
her,  he  called  a  carriage  and  helped  her  into 
it,  following  and  seating  himself  opposite 
her.  She  protested  at  first,  but  he  said : 

"  I  have  a  long  way  to  go  and  need  a  car 
riage,  and  I  may  as  well  drop  you  at  home. 
Where  must  I  put  you  down  ?  " 

She  gave  a  street  and  number.  The  door 
was  shut,  the  man  mounted  to  his  box  and 
drove  away,  and  they  were  alone  together. 
Alone,  except  for  the  baby,  but  that  was 
enough  to  make  him  feel  that  he  and  all  the 
world  beside  were  thousands  of  miles  away 
from  her.  They  drove  on  in  silence.  Now 
and  then  as  they  passed  a  bright  light,  her 
beautiful  face,  outlined  by  its  dark  hat-brim 
and  darker  hair,  shone  out  from  the  shadow, 
but  for  which  he  might  have  felt  himself  in 
a  dream  interrupted  by  no  sound,  except  the 
monotonous  rumble  of  the  wheels.  Always 
as  he  looked  her  eyes  were  lowered  to  catch 
each  passing  glimpse  of  the  baby's  face. 
She  never  looked  at  him. 


ioo       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

He  began  to  feel  it  necessary  to  ask  one 
or  two  questions  that  he  might  know  what 
to  prepare  for,  but  as  he  broke  the  silence 
to  begin  she  said  warningly,  in  a  low  whis 
per  : 

"  Sh-sh-sh,  he  is  waking,"  and  then  fell 
to  rocking  and  crooning  over  the  baby  and 
coaxing  him  back  to  sleep.  When  he  seemed 
quite  quiet  again  she  said  suddenly  in  a  low 
whisper,  and  in  the  dark  he  felt  her  eyes 
upon  him : 

"  What  makes  you  so  kind  ?  No  one  is 
ever  kind  to  me.  I  thought  nobody  cared. 
I  had  one  friend  but  she  went  away.  She 
did  not  want  to  leave  me,  but  she  had  to  go 
far  off  somewhere  to  make  a  living  for  her 
mother." 

"  I  will  always  help  you  if  you  will  let 
me,"  Noel  said,  whispering  too,  for  fear  of 
being  silenced.  "  I  will  send  my  sisters  to 
see  you,  if  you  will  let  them  come  —  " 

"  Oh,  no  !  "  she  said,  interrupting  him  im 
pulsively.  "  Don't  send  any  women  out  of 
the  world  you  live  in  to  see  me.  They  are 
cruel — they  have  dreadful  thoughts  of  me. 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        101 

They  look  at  me  strangely  and  suspect  me. 
Oh,  no  —  I'd  rather  take  my  baby  to  the 
end  of  the  earth  and  hide  from  them.  I  beg 
you  not  to  send  any  one  to  see  me." 

Noel  hastened  to  promise  her  that  he 
certainly  would  not  go  against  her  wish,  and 
was  wondering  how  he  should  find  out  the 
things  he  longed  so  to  know,  when  sud 
denly  the  carriage  stopped. 

The  driver  got  down  and  rang  the  bell. 
As  Noel  was  helping  Christine  to  get  out, 
the  door  was  opened  and  the  figure  of 
Dallas  appeared.  It  was  a  surprise  to  him, 
somehow,  and  an  unwelcome  one.  How 
his  spirit  rose  in  abhorrence  of  this  man  ! 

Christine  went  up  the  steps  with  the  baby, 
and  as  he  had  her  bag  and  shawl  Noel  fol 
lowed,  telling  the  driver  to  wait. 

It  was  a  miserable  little  house,  poor  and 
cheap,  and  empty,  and  but  for  the  counter 
acting  effect  of  his  anger  against  Dallas, 
Noel  thought  he  must  have  almost  sobbed 
to  see  Christine  here.  Dallas  himself  was 
not  at  all  discomposed  as  he  recognized  his 
visitor  and  asked  him  in,  offering  a  hand 
which  Noel  managed  to  touch. 


102        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

The  baby  was  still  asleep,  and  when 
Christine  had  placed  it  carefully  on  a 
wretched  little  couch,  she  seemed,  for  the 
first  time,  free  to  think  of  Noel.  She 
turned  and  asked  him  to  sit  down  —  at  the 
same  time  glancing  about  her  with  a  sudden 
rush  of  consciousness,  which  until  now  a 
nearer  interest  had  crowded  out.  The  pov 
erty-stricken  look  of  her  surroundings  was 
made  the  more  evident  by  the  few  objects 
belonging  to  other  days  that  lay  about  —  a 
charming  sacque,  smartly  braided  and  lined 
with  rich  silk,  hung  on  the  back  of  a  chair, 
and  a  handsome  travelling  rug  was  folded 
under  the  baby  on  the  sofa.  Everything 
was  clean,  for  Christine  even  yet  had  not 
come  to  contemplate  the  possibility  of  doing 
without  a  servant. 

There  was  a  small  kerosene  lamp  on  a 
table,  over  which  were  spread  a  lot  of  cards 
with  their  faces  up.  Some  one  had  evi 
dently  been  playing  solitaire,  and  as  evi 
dently,  on  the  witness  of  another  sense,  been 
accompanying  the  game  by  the  smoking  of 
bad  tobacco.  The  room  reeked  with  it  to  a 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        103 

degree  that  made  Noel  feel  it  an  outrage  to 
Christine.  But  what  was  he  to  do  ?  There 
was  but  one  thing.  He  said  good-by  and 
went  away,  carrying  the  memory  of  Chris 
tine's  face  flushed  scarlet  for  shame. 

He  remembered  afterward  that  Dallas  had 
taken  no  notice  of  the  baby  —  not  even 
glancing  at  it  or  inquiring  for  it  —  a  thing 
which  the  poor  mother  had  taken  as  a 
matter  of  course.  He  thought,  as  he  shook 
hands  with  her  at  parting,  that  Christine  had 
tried  to  speak  —  perhaps  a  word  of  thanks 
—  but  something  stopped  it  and  she  let  him 
go  in  silence. 

The  next  afternoon  Noel,  at  the  same 
hour,  went  down  to  the  wharf  and  boarded 
the  excursion  boat,  for  the  deliberate  pur 
pose  of  having  some  practical  talk  with 
Christine.  He  soon  found  her,  absorbed 
so  completely  in  the  baby  that  his  coming 
seemed  scarcely  to  disturb  for  a  moment  the 
intentness  of  her  preoccupation.  This,  at 
first,  made  him  feel  a  certain  irritation,  but 
he  soon  had  reason  to  congratulate  himself 
upon  an  absence  of  self-consciousness  on 


104       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

her  part  which  made  it  the  easier  for  him 
to  put  certain  questions.  Everything  he  in 
quired  about  she  responded  to  with  absolute 
honesty  and  a  sort  of  vagueness  which  pre 
cluded  any  such  feelings  as  wounded  pride. 
He  learned,  by  his  adroit  questionings,  that 
they  were  now  very  poor,  that  Dallas  had 
been  spending  his  principal,  which  was  now 
exhausted,  and  that  their  chief  means  of 
support  was  the  money  she  obtained  for 
doing  a  very  elaborate  sort  of  embroidery 
which  she  had  learned  while  at  the  convent. 
When  he  asked  if  she  had  all  the  work  she 
wanted  she  said  no,  and  that  she  often  rang 
door-bells  and  asked  ladies  to  give  her  work 
and  was  refused.  She  told  all  this  with 
apathy,  however,  and  seemed  to  have  no 
power  of  acute  feeling  outside  of  her  child. 
Then  Noel,  with  a  beating  heart,  made  a 
proposal  to  her  which  had  occurred  to  him 
during  the  wakeful  hours  of  the  night,  but 
which  he  had  felt  he  should  hardly  have 
courage  for.  This  was  that  she  should 
come  every  day  and  give  him  sittings  for  a 
new  picture  he  had  in  mind.  When  he  sug- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        105 

gested  it,  to  his  delight  she  caught  eagerly 
at  the  idea,  accepting  every  word  he  said  in 
absolute  good  faith,  and  showing  no  dispo 
sition  to  doubt  when  he  told  her  that  every 
hour  would  be  many  times  more  valuable  so 
spent  than  in  sewing,  as  good  models  were 
rare  and  very  well  paid.  She  thanked  him 
with  the  simplest  gratitude,  and  when  she 
heard  that  she  would  be  allowed  to  bring 
her  child  with  her  she  promised  to  come  the 
next  morning  to  his  studio.  The  baby,  she 
said,  was  better  now,  and  would  sleep  for 
hours  at  a  time,  and  in  the  afternoon  she 
could  take  him  on  the  water  as  usual.  It 
was  evident  that  there  was  no  one  else  who 
made  any  demand  upon  her  time  —  a  signifi 
cant  fact  to  Noel. 

Accordingly,  next  morning  she  came,  her 
baby  in  her  arms  as  usual.  She  had  made 
an  effort  to  dress  herself  attractively,  look 
ing  upon  the  matter  in  a  very  business 
like  way,  and  so  girlish  and  charming  and 
delicately  high-bred  did  she  look  in  her 
French-made  gown  of  transparent  black, 
with  trimmings  of  pale  green  ribbons,  and 


io6       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

a  wide  lace  hat  to  match,  that  Noel  rebelled 
with  all  his  might  against  her  lugging  that 
absurdly  superfluous  baby  up  those  long 
steps.  Still  it  was  necessary  to  accept  the 
inevitable,  and  he  set  his  teeth  and  said 
nothing.  When  she  had  laid  the  sleeping 
child  upon  a  lounge  and  turned  toward  him, 
her  eyes  fastened  eagerly  upon  a  great 
bunch  of  crimson  roses  in  a  blue  china  bowl, 
which  Noel  had  gotten  in  honor  of  her 
coming.  She  did  not,  of  course,  suspect 
this,  but  he  saw  that  here,  at  least,  was  a 
vivid  and  spontaneous  feeling  apart  from 
her  child,  as  she  bent  above  the  mass  of  rich 
color. 

"  Oh,  how  good  they  are  !  "  she  said.  "  I 
seem  to  want  to  eat  them,  and  smell  them 
and  look  at  them  all  at  once." 

She  held  them  off  and  regarded  them  en- 
joyingly  a  moment  and  then  raised  them 
to  her  face  again,  and  smelled  them  with 
audible  little  sniffs,  even  nibbling  the  red 
leaves  with  her  white  teeth,  as  she  looked 
at  Noel  over  them  and  smiled.  He  went, 
delighted,  and  brought  a  basket  of  luscious 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        107 

grapes  which  he  held  out  to  her.  She  took 
a  large  bunch,  and  holding  it  by  the  stem 
began  to  pick  the  grapes  off  one  by  one  and 
eat  them  enjoyingly.  They  were  pale  green 
in  color,  and  he  noted  the  effect  of  her  clear 
pink  nails  against  them  and  the  beautiful 
curves  of  the  long  fingers  that  held  the 
stem.  He  poured  out  some  water  in  a 
beautiful  old  Venetian  goblet  and  offered  it 
to  her.  There  was  a  bit  of  ice  in  it,  which 
she  tinkled  against  the  side  with  the  delight 
of  a  child  before  she  drank  it. 

"  I  am  sure  I  am  dreaming,  perfectly 
sure,"  she  said  seriously.  "  I  only  hope  I 
won't  wake  until  I  have  finished  this  bunch 
of  grapes." 

Then  she  lifted  the  glass  to  her  mouth, 
tilting  it  until  she  had  got  the  ice,  which  she 
chewed  up  noisily  with  her  sharp  little  teeth. 
Noel  felt  a  keen  delight  to  see  that  she  was 
letting  herself  be  gay  for  a  brief  moment, 
but  he  seemed  to  see  into  the  sadness  back 
of  it  more  plainly  than  ever. 

"  Oh,  I  am  very  happy,"  she  said,  sud 
denly  throwing  herself  into  a  chair  where 


io8       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

she  could  see  her  sleeping  child.  "  My 
baby  is  better  —  a  great  deal  better ;  he  has 
smiled  twice,  and  is  sleeping  so  peacefully  ! 
Yes,  I  am  happy  !  —  and  yet  the  other  feel 
ing —  the  one  that  has  been  with  me  always 
lately  —  is  here  too.  It  is  very  strange  that 
one  can  be  at  the  same  time  very  happy  and 
also  the  most  miserable  woman  in  the 
world  !  Does  this  sound  like  craziness  ?  I 
am  not  crazy.  There  are  some  people  — 
did  you  know  it  ?  —  who  can't  go  crazy !  — 
who  never  would,  no  matter  what  happened 
to  them  !  A  doctor  told  me  that,  and  I  be 
lieve  it.  He  says  it  is  constitutional  or  in 
herited  or  something  like  that  —  a  physical 
thing — having  a  very  strong  brain  that 
couldn't  be  upset !  " 

She  rose  now,  and  insisted  that  the  sitting 
should  begin.  Noel  saw  again  the  unfor- 
gotten  outline  of  her  beautiful  head,  with  its 
rippling  dark  hair  drawn  backward  into  that 
low  knot  behind. 

It  was  in  silence  that  she  seated  herself, 
and  he  began  to  work.  He  felt  as  if  some 
fair  saint  were  sitting  to  him,  and  that  the 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        109 

picture  would  never  come  out  right  without 
a  nimbus  round  the  head.  As  he  went  on 
with  his  rapid  drawing  in  charcoal  he  saw 
a  change  settle  heavily  upon  the  face  before 
him.  Utter  sadness  seemed  to  come  there 
as  soon  as  the  lines  relaxed  into  their  natural 
look. 

At  last,  when  he  felt  he  had  done  enough 
to  entitle  her  to  feel  that  she  had  really 
rendered  service,  he  threw  a  cloth  over  the 
picture  and  declared  the  sitting  ended.  She 
did  not,  however,  ask  to  look  at  it,  but 
went  over  at  once  to  where  the  baby  lay, 
and  stood  looking  down  upon  him.  Noel, 
who  had  followed  her,  stood  silently  beside 
her  for  some  moments.  Suddenly  she  said 
aloud : 

"  I  am  very  miserable." 

He  took  it  in  silence,  as  he  had  taken  her 
former  confession  of  happiness.  Presently 
she  went  on : 

1 1  said,  a  little  while  ago,  that  I  was 
happy,  and  for  a  moment  I  seemed  to  feel 
it  in  spite  of  all  the  misery.  God  knows  I 
don't  forget  to  thank  Him  that  my  baby  is 


no       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

better  "  —  her  lips  trembled  —  "  but  what  is 
his  dear  life  to  be?  What  is  mine  to  be? 
Always  like  this  ?  Oh,  God  help  me  !  My 
heart  is  broken." 

He  thought  she  was  going  to  cry,  but 
she  did  not.  She  only  clasped  her  hands 
hard  together  and  drew  in  her  lower  lip, 
clenching  it  in  her  teeth. 

"  Perhaps  I  ought  not  to  speak  like  this," 
she  said.  "  I  don't  know  whether  it  is  very 
wrong  or  not.  But  it  is  so  long  since  any 
one  was  kind  to  me  or  seemed  to  care." 

"It  is  not  wrong,"  said  Noel,  "  don't 
think  it.  Ease  your  heart  by  speaking,  if 
it  comforts  you.  Try  to  remember  what 
we  are  to  each  other  —  think  of  me  as  your 
brother." 

Thus  invited,  he  hoped  she  would  speak 
freely,  but  she  caught  her  lip  again,  as  if 
in  the  effort  of  self-repression,  and  shook 
her  head.  Noel  was  hurt. 

"  Do  you  not  trust  me  ?  "  he  said. 

"  I  trust  you  always,"  she  answered. 
"  You  are  good  and  kind  and  true,  and  not 
like  other  men.  Oh,  how  bad  they  are ! 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        in 

What  things  they  can  think  of  a  woman ! 
The  world  is  dark  and  evil,  and  I  and  my 
baby  are  alone  —  alone  —  alone  !  " 

The  vehemence  of  this  outburst  seemed 
to  recall  her  to  herself  and  her  surround 
ings,  and  by  a  tremendous  effort  she  man 
aged  to  attain  a  manner  and  expression 
of  calm.  The  baby  stirred  and  opened  its 
eyes,  and  in  a  moment  everything  else  was 
forgotten. 

A  few  moments  later,  when,  with  the 
child  in  her  arms,  she  was  ready  to  go, 
Noel,  as  he  handed  her  her  gloves  and 
pocketbook,  slipped  something  into  the 
latter. 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  will  think  of  the 
reward  of  your  morning's  labor,"  he  said,  in 
an  off-hand  way.  "  To  me  it  seems  miser 
ably  little,  although  you,  with  your  notions, 
may  think  it  too  much.  You  don't  know, 
of  course,  that  a  model  such  as  the  one  I've 
secured  this  morning  is  hard  to  get,  and  can 
always  command  a  good  price.  You  have 
fairly  and  honestly  earned  it  and  I  hope  you 
will  be  willing  to  come  again.  May  I  say 
to-morrow  ?  " 


lid        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"If  baby  is  as  well  as  to-day.  Oh,  how 
good  you  are !  I  hope  God  will  bless  you 
for  being  so  good  to  me." 

"  I  hope  He  would  curse  me  if  I  were 
not,"  said  Noel,  and  then,  restraining  his 
vehemence,  he  begged  her  to  let  him  carry 
the  baby  down-stairs  for  her.  This  she 
utterly  refused,  and  it  cut  him  to  the  heart 
to  feel  that  her  reason  for  doing  so  was  not 
so  much  to  save  him  trouble  as  to  prevent 
his  being  seen  in  such  a  condescending  atti 
tude  toward  his  model.  So  he  had  to  see 
her  go  off  alone  with  her  burden.  He 
rebelled  passionately  at  the  sight.  Since  the 
baby  was  —  a  stubborn  fact  in  an  emaciated 
form — and  Christine  could  not  be  happy 
to  have  it  out  of  her  sight,  the  situation 
should,  at  any  rate,  have  had  the  mitigations 
which  civilization  supplies.  A  picturesque 
bonne,  in  an  effective  cap  and  apron,  should 
have  carried  the  child  for  her,  and  a  footman 
should  have  held  open  the  door  of  a  com 
fortable  carriage  for  her  on  reaching  the 
street.  Instead  of  which  he  had  to  meet 
the  maddening  possibility  that  the  cabman 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        113 

was  careless  and  insolent  and  that  passers-by 
in  the  street  stared  at  her. 

With  his  hands  thrust  deep  in  his  trousers' 
pockets  he  turned  back  into  the  studio, 
slamming  the  door  behind  him  with  his 
elbow,  and  walking  moodily  over  to  the 
window,  where  he  stood  a  long  while  lost  in 
thought.  The  one  satisfactory  reflection 
which  the  situation  suggested  was  that  he 
had  succeeded  in  making  Christine  accept, 
as  a  natural  arrangement,  the  fact  that  when 
artists  employed  models  they  always  sent 
them  to  and  from  the  studios  in  a  cab, 
which  it  was  the  artist's  business  to  pay  for. 


VIII. 

THE  next  day  Christine  came  again, 
and  although  she  was  comforted  by 
the  fact  that  the  baby  still  seemed  better 
Noel  thought  he  had  never  seen  or  imagined 
such  absolute  sadness  as  both  her  face  and 
manner  showed.  The  picture  progressed  in 
long  spaces  of  absolute  silence,  while  Chris 
tine  sat  as  immovable  as  the  sleeping  child 
near  by.  It  seemed  to  Noel,  in  spite  of  his 
inexperience,  that  the  child  lay  more  in  a 
state  of  stupor  than  sleep,  and  that  its  pros 
tration  argued  the  very  lowest  degree  of 
vitality,  but  Christine  seemed  satisfied  when 
he  was  asleep  and  so  Noel  made  no  com 
ment. 

During  the  sitting  that  day  he  asked 
Christine  if  he  would  prove  himself  a  nui 
sance  to  either  her  or  her  husband  if  he 
sometimes  called  in  the  evening.  To  the 
first  part  of  the  inquiry  she  replied  that  she 
would  be  glad  to  see  him,  and  to  the  latter, 

"4 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        115 

with  a  sort  of  hopeless  wonder,  that  Mr. 
Dallas  would  not  mind. 

Noel  went  once,  and  once  only.  The 
visit  was  too  painful  to  himself,  and  he  felt 
also  to  Christine,  to  be  repeated.  The  hid 
eous  barrenness  of  the  place  seemed  an 
outrage  to  her  delicacy  and  made  the  re 
finement  of  her  beauty  seem  cruelly  out  of 
place.  But  more  than  all,  when  Noel 
looked  on  the  untidy  negligence  and  brutal 
insensibility  of  the  man  who  was  at  liberty 
to  call  her  wife,  and  whom  she  acknowl 
edged  as  husband,  he  felt  it  unbearable. 
He  was  even  worse  than  he  remembered 
him.  Formerly  he  had,  at  least,  dressed 
well  and  kept  up  the  forms  of  civility. 
Noel  could  imagine  that  he  was  now  glad  to 
be  rid  of  the  trouble.  He  did  not  even  care 
to  be  particular  about  his  person  since  he 
was  now  in  a  position  where  that  bother 
could  be  dispensed  with. 

As  soon  as  Noel  began  to  talk  to  Chris 
tine  Dallas  filled  his  pipe  and  went  off  to 
the  table  to  play  solitaire.  Noel  fancied 
that  the  smell  of  the  rank  tobacco,  which 


n6       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

was  unimproved  in  quality,  made  the  poor 
girl  sick.  It  was  a  relief  when  Dallas  got 
up  after  a  while,  and  shoving  the  cards 
together  in  a  heap  left  the  room.  Then 
Noel  inquired  for  the  baby.  Somehow  he 
always  shrank  from  speaking  of  it  before 
Dallas. 

"He  is  asleep  up-stairs.  Eliza  is  with 
him:  He  is  better,"  said  Christine,  "  but 
the  doctor  says  there  is  no  certainty  until 
the  hot  weather  is  over.  Oh,  it's  selfish 
of  me  to  want  him  to  live,"  she  added, 
with  a  sudden  agitation  in  her  voice,  "  but 
it  isn't  that ;  it  isn't  life  I  want  for  him  — 
only  to  keep  him  with  me  —  to  be  where  he 
is.  If  I  could— " 

She  broke  off  huskily,  and  Noel,  out  of 
pity  for  her,  got  up  and  walked  to  the 
other  end  of  the  little  room.  When  he  got 
back  she  had  recovered,  and  said  with  a 
smile : 

"  I  am  out  of  patience  with  myself  for 
being  gloomy  now.  You  will  think  me 
such  a  poor  coward.  The  baby  is  better 
and  I  will  try  to  be  bright.  I  said  in  my 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        117 

prayers  to  God  that  if  He  would  let  my 
baby  get  better  I  would  be  happy,  and  ask 
for  nothing  else.  But  what  do  you  think 
this  is  ?  "  she  added,  with  a  change  of  tone, 
drawing  something  from  her  pocket  and 
holding  it  hid  in  her  closed  hand. 

"  I  can't  imagine,"  said  Noel,  full  of  de 
light  to  see  that  look  of  interest  and  amuse 
ment  on  her  face. 

"A  present  for  you  from  me !  Isn't  that 
funny  ?  It  isn't  anything  very  valuable  and 
perhaps  you  won't  care  for  it,  but  I  have 
a  feeling  that  I  want  you  to  have  it.  It's 
the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  which 
belonged  to  my  grandfather.  My  mother 
left  it  to  me  among  some  trinkets  of  hers, 
which  have  all  been  sold.  Don't  look  sorry 
about  it ;  you  don't  know  how  little  it  mat 
ters  now !  This  I  could  never  have  sold, 
and  besides  it  is  worth  very  little  really  — 
but  I  felt  I  wanted  you  to  have  it.  Will 
you  let  me  give  it  to  you  ? " 

She  opened  her  hand  and  held  it  out  to 
him  with  the  cross  lying  on  the  palm.  Noel 
was  deeply  touched. 


ii8        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"  I  never  really  expected  to  be  decorated," 
he  said,  "but  there  is  no  possible  way  in 
which  a  decoration  could  come  to  me  that 
could  give  me  such  pride  and  pleasure  as 
this.  Take  it  ?  I  should  think  so  !  When 
I  used  to  dream  of  being  a  painter  I  thought 
perhaps  I'd  have  a  great  picture  in  the  Salon 
and  get  a  decoration  for  it.  But  I  assure 
you  this  is  better." 

"  Oh,  what  pleasant  things  you  say ! " 
said  Christine.  "You  make  me  feel  quite 
happy,"  and  she  held  out  the  cross  for  him 
to  take. 

"  I  want  you  to  fasten  it  on,"  said  Noel. 
"  1  mean  always  to  wear  it.  Will  you  pin 
it  here?" 

He  turned  back  his  coat  and  Christine 
came  close  to  him  and  complied  with  the 
utmost  willingness.  The  pin  was  a  little 
blunt  or  rusted  and  it  took  her  several  sec 
onds  to  put  it  in  and  fasten  it.  Their  faces 
were  almost  on  a  level,  and  Noel's  eyes 
looked  closer  than  they  had  ever  done  be 
fore  at  her  youthful  loveliness.  Hers  were 
bent  in  complete  absorption  upon  her  task. 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        119 

When  she  had  fastened  the  pin  she  drew 
backward,  still  holding  open  the  coat  that 
she-  might  see  the  cross  in  its  new  position. 
All  the  time  she  never  looked  at  Noel,  but 
all  the  time  he  looked  at  her. 

"Thank  you,"  she  said  simply. 

Noel  seemed  stricken  with  silence.  His 
mind  was  confused,  and  he  did  not  know 
what  to  say.  And  Christine,  wondering 
that  he  did  not  speak,  lifted  her  large  eyes 
to  his  face  and  looked  at  him  questioningly. 
Then  Noel  remembered  himself,  and  in 
perfect  recollectedness  and  self-possession 
he  took  her  hands  and  kissed  them,  first 
one  and  then  the  other. 

"  You  have  made  me  your  knight,"  he 
said.  "  Let  me  never  forget  it.  I  am  a 
knight  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  I  shall 
carry  this  cross  about  me  always  to  remind 
me  of  it.  Thank  you,  and  bless  you, 
Christine." 

Then  he  dropped  her  hands,  and  they 
sat  down  and  fell  to  talking.  For  the  first 
time  in  his  recent  intercourse  with  her  she 
was  able  to  speak  of  general  subjects. 


120       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

There  was  a  momentary  lull  in  her  anxiety 
about  the  baby,  and  in  her  release  from 
that  recent  and  heavy  burden  she  felt  a  re 
bound  from  the  more  remote  causes  of  un- 
happiness  too.  So  they  got  into  a  talk  that 
was  easy  and  almost  bright.  They  spoke 
together  of  foreign  lands  familiar  to  them 
both,  of  music  and  painting,  and  all  the 
things  from  which  her  present  life  divided 
her  so  completely  that,  as  Christine  said 
presently,  it  was  like  recalling  dreams. 
And  then  in  the  midst  of  it  Dallas  came  in, 
with  his  slovenly  dress  and  horrible  pipe, 
and  Christine,  with  an  awful  look  of  rec- 
ollectedness,  came  back  to  reality.  It  was 
impossible  to  take  this  man  into  a  talk 
like  theirs,  and  Noel  quickly  said  good 
night. 


IX. 

THE  next  day  and  the  next  Christine 
went  to  the  studio,  and  the  sittings 
passed  in  almost  total  silence.  It  had  be 
come  more  than  ever  impossible  for  them 
to  speak  to  each  other,  and  they  both 
realized  it.  Then  came  a  day  on  which 
Noel  waited  in  vain  for  Christine.  When 
morning  and  afternoon  were  passed  and  he 
got  no  tidings  he  could  bear  the  suspense 
no  longer,  and  went  to  the  house  to  inquire. 
Old  Eliza,  the  negro  servant,  opened  the 
door  for  him  and  told  him  the  baby  was 
dying.  His  heart  grew  cold  within  him. 
What  would  Christine  do  ?  How  could  she 
bear  it?  He  asked  if  the  doctor  had  been, 
and  was  told  he  was  now  up-stairs.  He 
inquired  for  Dallas.  "  Gone  to  walk," 
Eliza  said  with  contempt,  and  then  added 
that  "  He  might  as  well  be  one  place  as 
another,  as  he  didn't  do  no  good  nowhar." 

Noel   saw  the  doctor,  an  elderly,  capable, 
decided  man,  who,  as   he  soon   found,   took 


122        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

in  the  whole  situation  and  sympathized 
with  Christine  as  heartily  as  he  excoriated 
her  husband.  Noel  said  he  was  an  old 
friend  of  Christine's,  who  was  anxious  to 
do  all  that  was  possible  for  her,  and  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  that  he  had  in 
spired  Dr.  Belford  with  confidence  in  him. 
He  soon  saw  that  it  was  unnecessary  to 
ask  the  good  physician  to  see  that  her 
wants  and  those  of  the  child  were  supplied, 
as  his  own  sympathies  were  thoroughly 
enlisted,  so  he  could  only  beg  to  be  notified 
of  anything  he  could  possibly  do,  and  go 
sadly  away. 

When  Noel  came,  early  next  morning,  a 
scant  bit  of  black  drapery,  tied  with  a  white 
ribbon,  told  him  that  the  thing  had  hap 
pened  which  deprived  Christine  of  all  she 
loved  on  earth.  The  desire  of  her  eyes  was 
taken  from  her  and  her  house  was  left  unto 
her  desolate. 

Eliza  opened  the  door,  and  he  came  in 
side  the  hall  and  asked  her  a  few  questions. 
The  baby  had  died  about  midnight,  the 
woman  said.  Dr.  Belford  had  stayed  until 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        123 

it  was  over.  The  child  was  now  prepared 
for  burial,  the  mother  having  done  every 
thing  herself,  seeming  perfectly  calm.  She 
would  not  eat,  however,  and  was  lying  on 
the  bed  by  the  baby.  He  did  not  need  to 
inquire  for  the  father,  for  at  the  end  of  the 
hall  was  the  dining-room,  where  he  could 
see  Dallas,  with  his  back  turned,  seated  at 
the  table,  evidently  making  a  hearty  break 
fast,  the  smell  of  which  smote  offensively 
the  visitor's  nostrils.  Noel  felt  he  must  get 
away,  and  yet  the  thought  of  Christine, 
lying  up-stairs  alone  by  her  little  dead  baby, 
seemed  to  pull  him  by  his  very  heartstrings. 
He  put  some  money  into  Eliza's  hand, 
telling  her  to  use  it  as  she  thought  neces 
sary,  and  then  went  away.  He  next  sought 
Dr.  Belford  and  sent  a  message  to  Christine, 
which  he  felt  would  fall  as  coldly  as  upon 
the  ear  of  a  marble  statue,  and  then  he  went 
to  a  florist's  and  sent  her  a  great  heap  of 
pure  white  flowers,  which  he  thought  she 
might  care  to  put  about  the  baby.  This 
done  he  felt  helpless,  impotent  and  miser 
able. 


i24       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

The  next  morning  he  went  with  Dr. 
Belford  and  helped  to  lower  into  the  earth 
the  treasure  of  Christine's  heart.  There 
were  but  four  persons  present,  the  mother, 
the  clergyman,  the  physician  and  himself. 
Dallas  had  slipped  from  the  house  early  in 
the  morning,  telling  Eliza  he  would  not  be 
back,  deliberately  shirking  the  unpleasant 
ness  of  the  occasion.  He  had  never  shown 
any  love  for  the  child,  but  a  funeral  was, 
in  itself,  a  painful  thing,  and  he  ran  away 
from  it.  This,  at  least,  was  the  explanation 
given  by  Dr.  Belford.  Noel  felt  that  the 
kind  old  doctor  was  the  being  who  could 
best  help  Christine  now,  since  he  had  been 
with  her  through  the  worst  of  her  trial.  So 
it  was  he  who  sat  beside  Christine  as  they 
drove  through  the  crowded  city  streets,  with 
the  little  white  coffin  on  the  seat  opposite. 
Noel  went  in  another  carriage  with  the 
clergyman,  to  whom  he  told  something  of 
Christine's  history,  begging  him  to  go  see 
her  and  try  to  give  her  comfort,  which  he 
promised  to  do.  It  seemed  a  bitter  thing 
to  him  that  both  these  men  seemed  to  have 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        125 

some  place  and  position  beside  Christine  — 
and  he  none  !  He  looked  at  her  during  the 
short  service,  which  tortured  his  heart  with 
pain  for  her,  but  behind  her  thick  veil  her 
face  was  quite  invisible,  and  her  figure  was 
still  and  cold  as  marble.  He  longed  un 
speakably  to  try  to  comfort  her,  but  he  felt 
he  could  not  take  one  step  until  she  gave 
some  sign  that  she  wanted  him.  He  knew 
that  Dr.  Belford  had  told  her  that  he  wished 
to  speak  with  her  as  soon  as  she  could  bear 
it,  and  now  he  must  wait — no  matter  how 
long  —  until  she  signified  her  wish  to  have 
him  come.  She  had  sent  him  a  message  of 
thanks  by  Dr.  Belford,  and  said  she  would 
see  him  when  she  could.  With  that  he  had 
to  be  content.  He  felt  it  useless  to  deny 
the  plain  fact  that  grief  had  crowded  every 
thought  of  him  out  of  her  heart  now. 

Every  day  he  sent  her  flowers — although 
he  felt  assured  that  they  all  found  their  way 
to  the  cemetery  —  and  every  day  he  went  to 
Dr.  Belford  to  find  out  how  she  was.  The 
report  was  always  the  same  —  calm,  uncom 
plaining,  hopeless ! 


126       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

He  longed  to  feel  that  Christine  thought 
of  him  with  some  degree  of  comfort,  but 
there  was  absolutely  no  foundation  for  such 
a  hope.  He  had  always  felt  a  certain  im 
patient  scorn  of  the  unfortunate,  and  to  him 
totally  uninteresting  baby,  whom  Christine 
had  loved  with  such  idolatry,  but  now  he 
found  himself  formulating  a  passionate  wish 
that  he  could  get  back  the  child's  life  for 
her  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  own.  He  almost 
felt  that  he  could  consent  to  it. 


X. 

ABOUT  two  weeks  after  the  death  of 
the  baby  Dr.  Belford  called  upon 
Noel.  It  was  absolutely  necessary,  he  said, 
to  do  something  to  rouse  Christine  from 
her  state  of  hopeless  lethargy.  He  had  ac 
cordingly  laid  his  plans  to  do  this.  He  had 
discovered,  through  Eliza,  that  all  the 
money  furnished  for  the  support  of  the 
establishment  for  some  time  past  had  come 
from  Christine,  and  that  Dallas  even  applied 
to  his  wife  for  money  for  tobacco  and  car 
fares,  pretending  he  went  out  looking  for 
work. 

"As  far  as  I  can  understand,"  said  Dr. 
Belford,  "  the  creature  has  no  strong  vices 
—  he  is  too  bloodless  and  inane  for  them. 
Even  when  he  had  money  it  doesn't  appear 
that  he  gambled,  and  I  don't  believe  he 
drinks.  He  is  simply  wanting  in  principle, 
feeling  and  everything.  Eliza  says  he  has 
scarcely  spoken  to  his  wife,  or  she  to  him, 
since  the  baby  died.  Indeed  she  never 
127 


speaks  a  word  to  any  one  beyond  what  is 
strictly  necessary.  This  state  of  things  can 
not  go  on.  I  told  Eliza  yesterday  to  go 
and  ask  her  for  money,  which  she  did.  On 
the  heels  of  it  I  went  to  her  and  told  her 
you  wanted  to  begin  a  new  picture  and 
could  find  no  model  so  suitable  as  herself. 
I  asked  her  if  she  would  agree.  She  told 
me  then  that  Eliza  had  come  to  her  for 
money  to  carry  on  the  house,  and  that  she 
felt  she  must,  in  some  way,  earn  it,  as  she 
would  not  owe  tradespeople,  who  could  not 
afford  to  lose  by  her.  So  she  asked  me  to 
tell  you  she  would  begin  the  sittings  to 
morrow." 

"  What  a  friend  you  are,  Doctor,  to  her 
and  to  me!"  said  Noel,  grasping  his  com 
panion's  hand. 

The  doctor  held  his  hand  in  a  resolute 
pressure  as  he  looked  at  him  keenly  and 
said : 

"  I  think  I  know  my  man.  At  all  events 
I'm  going  to  trust  you.  I  haven't  much 
belief  in  saints,  but  unless  you're  a  double- 
dyed  scoundrel  you  will  never  betray  this 
trust." 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        129 

Noel  answered  nothing.  The  two  men 
grasped  hands  a  second  longer  and  then, 
each  satisfied  with  each,  they  parted. 

When  Christine  came  the  next  morning 
the  pity  that  Noel  felt  for  her  almost  over 
came  him.  It  was  evident  that  the  sight  of 
the  place  brought  up  the  saddest  memories, 
and  she  appeared  at  the  door  empty-armed, 
instead  of  weighted  down  by  her  helpless 
little  burden.  The  look  on  her  face,  as  she 
threw  back  her  veil,  was  almost  more  than 
he  could  bear.  By  a  mute  little  gesture  she 
seemed  to  implore  him  not  to  speak  of  what 
filled  the  minds  of  both,  and  he  obeyed 
her.  She  gave  him  both  her  hands.  He 
felt  like  falling  on  his  knees  before  her,  and 
controlled  himself  only  by  a  strong  effort. 
It  seemed  inhuman  not  to  do  something  to 
help  her,  but  what  could  he  do  ? 

"  I'm  so  sorry  for  you,"  was  all  he  could 
say. 

"  Don't  speak.  Don't  make  me  speak. 
You  know  I  thank  you  for  everything.  I 
can't  talk." 

Then,  loosing  his  hands,  she  walked  off 


ijo       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

to  a  window  and  stood  looking  out,  while 
Noel  chose  a  different  canvas  and  busied 
himself  with  preparations  for  work.  Pres 
ently  she  came  and  placed  herself  calmly, 
and  Noel  began  to  draw.  Occasionally  he 
said  some  little  thing,  and  she  assented,  but 
they  both  soon  felt  that  silence  was  the  only 
thing.  There  was  no  suggestion  of  tears 
in  her  eyes,  but  their  look  was  the  sadder 
for  that.  When  the  sitting  was  ended  Noel 
tried  to  make  her  take  a  glass  of  wine  or 
some  fruit,  but  she  turned  from  them 
almost  with  distaste.  As  she  was  leaving, 
however,  she  asked  if  she  might  have  the 
roses  on  the  table.  When  Noel  eagerly 
said  yes  she  took  the  great  bunch  in  her 
hand  and  went  off —  he  well  knew  where  ! 

After  that  she  came  daily,  and  the  pict 
ure  progressed,  but  she,  the  beautiful 
model,  remained  unchanged  in  her  hopeless 
apathy  and  misery. 

One  day  at  the  close  of  the  sitting  Noel, 
as  usual,  went  from  the  studio  to  his  law- 
office.  The  season  was  dull  and  his  partner 
was  out  of  town,  so  it  devolved  on  him  to 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        131 

read  and  attend  to  the  mail.  He  had  read 
half  through  the  little  pile  of  letters  which 
he  found  awaiting  his  attention  when  he 
took  up  one  bearing  the  name  and  address 
of  a  law  firm  in  a  Western  town,  with  whom 
he  and  his  partner  had,  from  time  to  time, 
transacted  business.  He  opened  it  abstract 
edly  and  began  to  run  over  the  contents 
rather  listlessly,  when  a  name  caught  his  eye 
that  arrested  his  attention.  The  lawyers 
proposed  to  his  partner  and  himself  to  co 
operate  with  them  in  a  case  of  bigamy. 
They  had  worked  it  up  satisfactorily,  they 
said,  their  client  being  the  first  wife  of  a 
man  said  to  be  now  living  with  a  second  one 
in  the  city  of  Noel's  residence.  The  man's 
name  was  Robert  Dallas. 

Noel  sprang  to  his  feet,  while  a  dizziness 
that  made  him  almost  unconscious  took 
possession  of  him.  He  fell  back  into  his 
chair  again,  a  chill  running  through  all  his 
veins.  If  it  should  be  the  man  Christine 
had  married  so  hastily  in  a  foreign  country 
—  the  father  of  her  child  !  The  horror  of 
it  overcame  him  so  that  for  several  moments 


i32        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

he  remained  transfixed.  Then  he  reflected 
that  the  name  might  be  a  mere  coincidence, 
and  took  up  the  letter  to  finish  it. 

Every  word  he  read  strengthened  the 
conviction  that  it  was  the  Robert  Dallas 
that  he  knew.  There  was  a  minute  descrip 
tion  of  him,  which  corresponded  perfectly, 
and  the  lawyer  added  that  he  had  sent,  by 
express,  a  photograph  and  specimens  of  his 
handwriting.  Noel  looked  about  him.  An 
express  parcel,  which  he  had  not  noticed, 
lay  on  the  table.  He  hastily  cut  the  twine 
and  opened  it.  There  were  papers  and 
memoranda,  and  in  an  envelope  a  photo 
graph.  He  tore  it  open  and  the  weak, 
handsome  face  of  the  father  of  Christine's 
child  confronted  him.  There  was  no  longer 
a  doubt  of  it ;  Christine,  the  innocent,  the 
guileless,  the  confiding,  the  pure  and  sweet 
and  lovely,  had  been  betrayed,  and  by  this 
creature,  this  miserable  excuse  for  a  man, 
whose  dull  and  feeble  beauty  looked  to  him 
hideous  as  leprosy.  What  would  become 
of  her?  How  would  she  bear  it?  Who 
would  take  care  of  her  when  the  great 
shock  fell  ? 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        133 

A  sudden  strength  came  into  him.  A 
force  that  had  lain  as  silent  and  reserved 
as  the  force  of  steam  in  water  surged  forth 
at  the  fiery  touch  of  the  thought  that  had 
first  come  to  him.  He  got  up  hastily  and 
put  the  lawyer's  letters  and  the  parcel  of 
papers  into  his  iron  safe  and  locked  it. 
The  photograph  only  he  left  out,  and  this 
he  thrust  into  the  inner  pocket  of  his  coat. 
As  he  was  doing  so  it  caught  on  something. 
It  was  his  cross.  A  thought  thrilled  him. 
He  was  her  knight  of  the  Legion  of  Honor, 
and  he  felt  that  he  had  kept  his  trust ! 

He  went  out  of  the  office,  called  a  cab, 
and  had  himself  driven  to  a  street  and 
number  in  a  remote  suburb  of  the  city.  In 
a  quiet,  pretty  little  house,  overrun  with 
vines,  and  facing  a  green  and  grassy  public 
square  as  fresh  and  lovely  as  it  was  unfash 
ionable,  he  stayed  a  long  time,  and  when  he 
emerged  from  it  an  elderly  lady,  dressed  in 
black  and  with  a  white  widow's  cap  set 
above  her  smoothly-brushed  hair,  came  to  the 
door  with  him  and  pressed  his  hand  with 
a  fervent  "  God  bless  you  "  as  he  was  leav 
ing  her. 


i34       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

It  was  evident  that  he  had  inspired  her 
with  some  of  the  ardent  spirit  that  was 
animating  him,  for  she  looked  eager  and  full 
of  interest,  and  as  she  turned  back  within 
the  house,  when  he  had  driven  off,  she  had 
the  manner  of  a  person  who  had  work  to  do 
that  called  forth  her  best  energies  and  sym 
pathies.  Noel  had  the  same  air  as  he  caused 
himself  to  be  driven  from  place  to  place,  in 
pursuance  of  some  purpose  which  kept  him 
occupied  until  far  into  the  night. 


XI. 

NEXT  morning  when  the  hour  for 
Christine's  sitting  came  Noel  was 
walking  up  and  down  in  his  studio  with 
a  face  intensely  pale  from  past  sleeplessness 
and  present  excitement.  He  looked  at  his 
watch  frequently,  as  if  impatient,  and  yet 
the  least  sound  made  him  start  as  if  nervous 
and  apprehensive.  At  last  the  sound  he 
longed  for  and  yet  dreaded  was  heard,  and 
he  went  to  the  door  and  threw  it  open  for 
Christine  to  enter. 

She  came  in  without  speaking,  and  throw 
ing  back  her  veil  revealed  her  pale,  sad  face, 
with  its  look  of  passionless  woe. 

Noel  took  her  hand  as  he  closed  the  door 
behind  her  and  inquired  for  her  health.  It 
was  steadier  than  his,  that  little  black- 
gloved  hand.  He  felt  reluctant  to  let  it  go 
as  she  withdrew  it  and  began  to  take  off 
her  bonnet  and  gloves.  When  she  had 
laid  these  on  the  table  she  ran  her  fingers 
with  a  pretty  motion  that  he  had  often 
135 


136       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

noticed  through  the  loose  masses  of  her 
dark  hair,  where  it  curved  behind  her  ears. 
It  was  quite  mechanical  and  showed  an 
unconsciousness  of  self  that  Noel  wondered 
whether  he  should  ever  see  in  her  again. 

She  poured  out  a  glass  of  water  and 
drank  half  of  it,  and  then  said  she  was 
ready  to  begin.  She  looked  tired,  but  she 
said  she  was  not,  and  would  like  to  begin 
if  he  were  ready. 

"  Sit  down,  Christine,"  he  said  gently, 
"  I  am  not  ready  to  begin  yet.  I  want  to 
talk  to  you." 

She  looked  surprised,  but  sank  upon  the 
lounge  and  he  seated  himself  by  her  side. 
The  utter  lassitude  of  her  expression  made 
his  task  seem  desperately  hard  to  begin. 

"  I  have  something  to  tell  you,  dear  Chris 
tine,"  he  said,  "  but  I  want  you  to  make 
me  a  promise  first.  If  the  few  poor  little 
services  I  have  been  able  to  render  you, 
and  the  interest  and  sympathy  I  have  tried 
to  express  to  you  have  done  anything  at  all, 
I  think  they  must  have  convinced  you  that 
I  am  your  true,  devoted  friend  and  that 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        137 

you  can  trust  me.  Tell  me  this,  Christine  ; 
you  do  trust  me  —  don't  you  ?  " 

"  More  than  any  one  on  earth  —  but  that 
is  too  little,"  she  said  hastily  — "  as  much 
as  I  could  ever  have  trusted  any  one  —  as 
much  as  I  trusted  those  who  have  been 
unworthy  —  and  with  a  feeling  that  the 
knowledge  of  their  unworthiness  could 
never  affect  a  thing  so  high  as  my  faith 
in  you." 

"  Thank  God  that  it  is  so.  And  now, 
Christine,  I  call  the  God  we  both  adore  and 
fear  to  witness  that  I  will  be  true  to  your 
faith  in  me,  to  the  last  recess  of  my  mind, 
no  less  than  to  the  last  drop  of  my  blood. 
See,  Christine,  I  swear  it  on  my  cross,"  and 
he  drew  it  out,  touching  the  picture  as  he 
did  so.  "  Give  me  your  hand,"  he  said, 
"  and  we  will  hold  this  sacred  cross  between 
my  hand  and  yours,  and  I  will  tell  you  this 
thing,  and  you  must  try  to  feel  that  I  am 
not  only  your  knight  but  also  your  dear 
brother,  in  whom  all  the  confidence  you 
have  expressed  to  me  is  strengthened  by  the 
added  bond  of  relationship.  Christine,  my 


138        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

sister,  I  want  you  to  realize  that  there  is  an 
ordeal  before  you  which  it  will  take  all  the 
strength  that  you  can  summon  to  bear  with 
fortitude.  At  first  you  will  think  it  intoler 
able  —  impossible  to  be  borne,  and  I  do  not 
pretend  to  tell  you  that  the  blow  will  not 
be  awful,  beyond  words.  I  only  want  to 
say  to  you  now,  when  you  are  calm 
enough  to  listen,  that  it  is  not  so  hopeless 
and  terrible  as  it  will  look  at  first  —  that 
there  is  light  beyond,  though  at  first  you 
may  not  be  able  to  see  it.  Try  to  keep 
that  in  your  mind  if  you  can." 

She  had  given  him  her  hand  and  they 
clasped  the  cross  between  them.  All  the 
time  that  he  was  speaking  she  looked  at 
him  with  a  calm  and  unbelieving  wonder  in 
her  large  eyes.  As  he  paused  she  shook 
her  head  with  grave  incredulousness  and 
said  quietly : 

"You  do  not  know  me,  Mr.  Noel.  I 
thought  you  understood  a  little,  but  you 
are  wrong  if  you  think  there  is  anything  you 
could  tell  me  for  which  I  should  care  so 
much.  I  do  not  suppose  I  could  make  you 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN       139 

understand  it,  but  my  heart  is  dead  and 
buried  in  my  baby's  grave,  and  nothing 
could  make  me  feel  as  you  expect  me  to 
feel.  The  two  or  three  people  that  I  — 
know  "  (Noel  knew  by  the  pause  she  made 
that  she  had  wanted  to  say  love,  but  couldn't, 
in  honesty,  use  the  word)  "  are  all  well.  I 
have  just  come  from  them  —  even  Dr.  Bel- 
ford  1  have  seen  to-day  —  but  if  you  were 
going  to  tell  me  they  were  all  dead  I  could 
not  care  a  great  deal  —  at  least  not  in  the 
way  you  expect  me  to  care  —  for  what  you 
have  to  tell  me.  It  may  be  wicked  to  have 
so  hard  a  heart,  but  I  cannot  help  it.  There 
is  absolutely  nothing  in  all  the  world  that 
could  make  me  feel  in  the  way  you  think  I 
ought  to  feel  at  what  you  have  to  tell  me." 

"  I  did  not  say  ought,"  said  Noel,  "  there 
is  no  ought  about  it.  It  is  a  thing  inevi 
table.  Oh,  Christine,  there  is  no  way  to  lead 
up  to  it.  I  must  just  tell  you  and  beg  you, 
for  my  sake  at  least,  to  try  to  bear  it." 

"You  had  better  tell  me,"  she  said. 
"  You  will  see  how  I  can  bear  it." 

The  calm  security  of  her  tones,  the  pas- 


i4o        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

sionless  wonder  of  her  quiet  face  were  almost 
maddening.  They  made  him  fear  the  more 
the  effect  of  the  shock  when  it  should  come. 

"  Christine,"  he  said  quietly,  though  his 
heart  was  leaping,  "it  is  something  about 
your  —  about  the  man  you  married." 

A  faint  flush  came  up  in  her  face,  and 
she  averted  her  eyes  an  instant.  Then  she 
looked  at  him  and  said  calmly : 

"  I  thought  you  knew  that  long  ago  that 
became  one  of  the  subjects  upon  which  I  had 
ceased  to  feel  deeply.  If  you  think  it  is 
wrong  of  me  to  say  this  I  cannot  help  it. 
He  hated  his  little  child.  He  never  thought 
it  anything  but  a  trouble  and  a  burden,  and 
he  was  not  sorry  when  it  died.  He  is  glad 
the  trouble  of  it  is  over.  He  had  long 
ceased  to  feel  any  love  for  me  —  if  he  ever 
had  it  —  but  if  he  had  cared  a  little  for  the 
poor  little  baby  I  could  have  forgotten  that ; 
but  he  was  cruel  toward  it  in  thought  and 
feeling,  and  if  I  had  not  watched  the  treas 
ure  of  my  heart  and  guarded  it  unceasingly 
he  would  have  been  cruel  to  it  in  deed,  too. 
I  know  it  and  Eliza  knows  it.  Oh,  why  did 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN         141 

you  make  me  speak  of  it  ?     I  ought  not  to 
say  such  things.      It  is  wrong." 

"  Why  wrong,  Christine  ?  Why  do  you 
feel  it  to  be  wrong?  Tell  me." 

"  Because  he  is  my  husband,"  she  said 
sternly,  "  and  I  took  solemn  vows  to  love, 
to  serve  and  to  obey  him.  I  said  c  for  bet 
ter  or  for  worse.'  I  said  f  till  death  us  do 
part.'  The  God  who  will  judge  me  knows 
whether  I  have  kept  them.  The  love  one 
cannot  control ;  but  one  can  force  one's  self 
to  serve  and  obey,  and  that  I  have  tried 
to  do." 

"  And  you  have  done  it.  I  have  felt  that 
I  could  kneel  and  worship  you  for  it  —  but, 
Christine,  the  truth  is  too  evident  to  be 
avoided.  He  is  unworthy  of  you.  Sup 
pose  you  could  be  free  from  him  ?  " 

"  Divorce  ? "  she  said  with  a  sort  of 
horror.  "  Never !  I  scarcely  know  what 
it  is  —  but  marriage  seems  to  me  a  thing  in 
dissoluble  and  inviolate.  I  cannot  forget 
that  he  is  the  father  of  my  child.  I  could 
never  wish,  on  that  account,  to  be  free  from 
him." 


142        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"  Christine,  there  is  another  way.  Oh, 
my  poor,  poor  child,  you  have  never  even 
thought  of  it,  and  it  breaks  my  heart  to  tell 
you.  But  there  is  a  way  you  might  be  free 
from  him  without  divorce  —  a  sad  and  dread 
ful  way,  my  poor  little  sister,  but  remember, 
I  implore  you,  that  there  is  light  beyond 
the  darkness.  Oh,  cannot  you  think  what 
I  mean  ?  " 

She  shook  her  head. 

"I  know  he  is  not  dead,"  she  said; 
"  there  is  no  other  way  that  I  know." 

"  Suppose — my  poor  girl,  try  to  be  brave 
now,  for  you  will  have  to  know  it  —  suppose 
your  marriage  to  him  was  not  legal  —  was 
no  marriage  at  all  ?  " 

Her  face  got  scarlet. 

"  That  is  not  possible,"  she  said,  "  and  if 
it  were,  it  would  make  no  difference.  If  he 
did  it  without  knowing — " 

"Christine,  Christine,  he  did  not!  He 
knew  it,  my  child.  Prepare  yourself  for 
the  very  worst.  He  deceived  you  wilfully. 
Oh,  Christine,  when  he  was  married  to  you 
there  was  an  impossible  barrier  between  you. 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        143 

It  was  such  a  thing  as  you  could  not  dream 
of.  Give  me  your  hands  and  try  to  feel 
that  your  brother  bears  this  sorrow  with 
you."  He  caught  her  other  hand  also  and 
pressed  them  both  between  his  own. 

"  Christine,  he  was  married  already. 
When  he  married  you,  he  had  already  a 
wife  and  child." 

She  wrenched  her  hands  away  and  sprang 
to  her  feet.  A  low  cry  broke  from  her. 
Noel  felt  that  it  was  he  who  had  applied 
the  torture,  and  he  saw  her  racked  with 
agony  and  utterly  heedless  of  the  comfort 
he  had  offered,  and  had  fondly  hoped  to 
give  her. 

"  Have  you  proof  for  what  you  say  ? " 
she  cried,  her  wild  look  of  confusion  and 
terror  making  her  so  unlike  her  usual  self 
that  he  seemed  not  to  know  her.  "  I  will 
never  believe  it  without  the  strongest  proof. 
It  is  too  horrible,  too  awful,  too  deadly, 
deadly  shameful  to  be  true.  Be  quick  about 
it.  If  there  is  proof,  let  me  have  it." 

"  Christine,  there  is  proof.  I  have  it  here 
on  the  spot,  but  spare  yourself,  my  poor, 
poor  girl.  Wait  a  little  — " 


144       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"Don't  talk  to  me  of  waiting.  Let  me 
see  what  you  have  got.  Oh,  can't  you  see 
that  I  can  bear  anything  better  than  not  to 
know?  Show  me  what  you  have  and  if 
what  you  say  is  true — " 

But  she  turned  away  as  if  his  eyes  upon 
her  hurt  her,  and  raised  her  arm  before  her 
face.  In  an  instant  she  lowered  it  and  said 
entreatingly : 

"  Oh,  show  me  what  you  have.  Have 
pity  on  me." 

Noel  took  the  envelope  containing  the 
picture  from  his  pocket. 

"  This  has  been  sent  me  by  a  lawyer," 
he  said.  "  The  woman  is  his  client.  She 
says  he  gave  her  this  picture  soon  after 
they  were  married.  Oh,  Christine,  don't 
look  at  it — " 

But  she  walked  toward  him  steadily  and 
took  the  envelope  from  his  hand.  He  could 
not  bear  to  see  her  when  her  eyes  rested  on 
it,  so  he  turned  away  and  walked  off  a  few 
paces,  standing  with  his  back  toward  her. 

There  was  a  moment's  silence.  He  heard 
her  slip  the  picture  from  the  envelope,  and 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        145 

he  knew  that  she  was  looking  at  it.  He 
heard  his  watch  tick  in  the  stillness,  and  her 
absolute  silence  frightened  him.  It  lasted, 
perhaps,  a  moment  more  and  then  he  turned 
and  looked  at  her.  She  was  standing  erect 
with  the  picture  in  her  hand.  He  saw  that 
she  had  turned  it  over  and  that  it  was  upon 
the  reverse  side  that  her  eyes  were  fixed. 
There  was  some  writing  on  it  which  he  had 
not  seen. 

She  held  the  photograph  out  to  him,  with 
an  intense  calm  in  her  manner,  but  he  saw 
that  her  nostrils  quivered  and  her  breath 
came  short.  Her  hands  were  trembling,  too, 
but  her  voice  was  steady  as  she  said : 

"  I  am  convinced." 

He  glanced  down  at  the  picture  and  saw 
written  on  the  back  in  a  weak,  uncertain 
hand  which  Christine  had  evidently  recog 
nized,  "  To  my  darling  little  wife,  from 
Robert." 

He  felt  her  humiliation  so  intensely  that 
he  could  not  look  at  her,  but  he  took  a  step 
toward  her  and  was  about  to  speak  when 
she  turned  away  and,  with  a  tottering  step, 


146       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

went  toward  the  sofa  and  fell  heavily  upon 
it,  her  face  buried  in  her  hands.  A  long 
breath  that  was  almost  a  groan  broke  from 
her,  and  then  she  lay  very  still,  except  that 
now  and  then  a  violent  shiver  would  run 
all  along  her  frame.  Poor  Noel !  He  felt 
the  bitterness  of  the  false  position  he  had 
tried  to  occupy.  If  he  had  been  indeed 
her  brother,  this  awful  grief  might  have 
spent  itself,  to  some  extent,  in  his  arms. 
He  felt  that  he  was  nothing  to  her,  but  his 
heart  was  none  the  less  soft  toward  her  for 
that. 

Thrusting  the  picture  back  into  his 
pocket,  he  drew  a  chair  near  to  her,  and 
sat  down  by  her  side.  He  wanted  her  to 
feel  that  he  was  there,  in  case  she  should 
find  it  in  her  heart  to  turn  to  him  for  a  help 
he  did  not  venture  to  intrude.  It  seemed 
a  long  while  that  they  remained  so,  but  at 
last  Christine  sat  up,  turning  upon  him  a 
face  so  strange  and  terrible  that  he  trembled 
at  the  look  of  it.  Sorrow  had  seared  it 
like  a  blight.  She  had  been  lying  upon  a 
seam  in  the  lounge  and  it  had  left  a  red 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        147 

mark  across  her  face.  He  thought  it 
looked  like  the  wound  upon  her  heart  made 
visible. 

"  I  can  never  see  him  again,"  she  said. 
"  I  cannot  go  home.  Oh  God,  I  have  no 
home  !  It  never  was  a  home  to  me,  except 
when  my  baby  was  in  it.  Oh,  my  baby 
boy  !  —  my  baby  boy  !  —  my  little  child  that 
loved  and  clung  to  me !  Oh,  God  was 
merciful  to  take  you.  My  God,  I  see  it 
now !  I  thank  Thee,  I  thank  Thee,  I 
thank  Thee ! " 

She  fell  on  her  knees  on  the  floor,  and 
then  she  threw  herself  forward  on  the  couch, 
and  hiding  her  face  again  shook  from  head 
to  foot  with  great,  tearless  sobs. 

"  Oh,  I  am  so  glad  he  is  dead  !  It  is  so 
sweet  to  me  to  think  it !  I  would  have  had 
to  look  into  his  big,  clear  eyes  that  used  to 
seem  to  read  my  very  heart,  and  think  of 
this  !  Oh,  if  only  I  could  go  and  lie  beside 
my  baby,  in  the  deep,  still  ground  where  the 
cruel  eyes  of  men  and  women  could  not  see 
us,  I  would  want  no  other  home.  I  have 
been  lonely  and  miserable,  lying  in  my  bed 


148        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

at  night,  without  him,  and  I  have  felt  that 
he  missed  and  needed  me,  as  I  did  him. 
Oh,  if  only  God  would  let  me  go  to  him,  I 
would  be  willing  to  be  put  into  his  grave 
alive  and  wait  for  death  to  come  !  It  would 
be  easier  than  life  with  this  thing  branded 
on  me." 

"  Branded  on  you  !  Oh,  Christine,  you 
must  not  say  it.  You  will  not  be  branded  ; 
you  will  be,  as  you  have  always  been,  best 
and  purest  and  truest  among  women  —  to 
me  at  least.  What  have  you  ever  been 
but  an  angel  of  nobleness  and  heroism  and 
devotion  to  duty  ?  Oh,  Christine,  I  could 
worship  you." 

She  rose  to  her  feet  and  stood  before  him. 

"  I  believe  God  will  reward  you  in 
Heaven  for  those  words,"  she  said.  "You 
are  a  man  who  can  see  as  He  sees,  in  truth 
and  clearness,  and  you  know,  as  He  does, 
I  have  tried  to  do  right.  But  what  you  do 
not  know,  what  He  alone  can  know,  is  how 
I  have  suffered  —  how  every  sacred  feeling 
of  my  woman's  heart  has  been  torn  and 
desecrated,  and  dragged  to  the  earth,  and 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        149 

how  I  endured  it  all,  because  I  thought  it 
was  my  duty  —  and  all  the  time  it  was  — 
Oh,  I  feel  as  if  I  don't  know  what  may 
happen  to  me  next  to  drag  me  deeper  down 
in  misery  and  sorrow.  I  thought  the  worst 
had  come  when  my  baby  died,  and  now  a 
thing  so  terrible  has  come  as  to  make  that 
the  comfort  that  I  hug  to  my  soul." 

She  sank  to  a  seat  on  the  couch  again, 
and  Noel  came  and  took  the  place  at  her 
side. 

"  Give  me  your  hand,"  she  said  trem 
blingly.  "  Oh,  I  feel  so  frightened.  Now 
that  this  has  come  I  feel  that  the  air  is  full 
of  awful  horrors  that  are  waiting  to  fall 
upon  me." 

Noel  took  her  hands  in  both  his  own, 
and  she  clung  to  them  with  a  pitiful  in 
tensity. 

"The  worst  is  over,"  he  said  gently. 
"  You  have  only  to  let  me  manage  and 
think  for  you  now  — " 

"Tell  me,"  she  said,  "tell  me  all  there 
is  to  know  —  how  you  found  this  thing  out, 
and  what  will  be  done  about  it.  You  must 


150       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

tell  it  every  word  to  me.  I  can  bear  it 
better  now  than  ever  to  speak  of  it  again." 

And  Noel  told  her,  as  mercifully  and 
gently  as  he  could,  all  that  he  had  learned 
from  the  lawyer's  statements.  He  wanted 
to  show  her  how  convincing  and  certain  the 
proof  was,  that  she  might  be  justified  in 
acting  on  it.  She  held  his  hands  in  a  hard 
grasp  and  looked  at  him  with  excited,  dis 
tended  eyes  as  she  listened  to  it  all.  The 
mixture  of  wildness  and  calm  in  her  man 
ner  and  looks  positively  terrified  him.  He 
feared  her  reason  might  be  temporarily  dis 
turbed,  and  would  have  given  worlds  to 
see  her  cry  and  complain,  but  she  heard  him 
through  with  the  same  excited  stillness. 

"  I  have  a  safe  and  pleasant  refuge  for 
you  for  the  present,  Christine,"  he  said. 
"  I  have  arranged  everything.  A  lady  —  a 
dear  friend  of  mine,  whose  son  was  my 
friend  and  a  man  I  loved  devotedly  —  this 
lady  will  take  you  and  care  for  you  as  a 
daughter.  I  have  told  her  everything  and 
she  is  waiting  for  you  now,  longing  to  love 
and  comfort  you.  Her  son  is  dead  and 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        151 

she  has  often  told  me  that  I,  as  his  friend, 
came  next  in  her  affections,  and  that  she 
would  do  anything  on  earth  to  serve  me. 
I  was  able  to  help  him  once  and  she  never 
forgot  it.  So  I  went  and  told  her  all  the 
truth.  She  has  a  mind  as  clean  and  simple 
as  your  own,  Christine,  and  she  is  longing 
to  love  and  comfort  and  take  care  of  you. 
You  will  let  me  take  you  to  her  —  will  you 
not?" 

"  Oh,  yes,"  she  said.  "  God  bless  you 
for  it.  I  could  never  go  back  there  again," 
she  added  with  a  shudder,  "  but  I  must 
write  a  letter." 

She  rose  hastily  and  Noel,  wondering, 
brought  her  writing  materials. 

She  wrote  a  hasty  note,  and  sealing  it, 
asked  him  to  have  it  sent  at  once.  To  his 
surprise  he  found  it  was  addressed  to 
Dallas. 

"  I  will  give  it  to  the  janitor  as  we  go 
down,"  he  said.  "  Do  you  feel  able  to  go 
now,  Christine  ?  A  carriage  will  be  wait 
ing  for  us  and  I  will  take  you  to  that  dear 
woman  who  will  make  you  feel  as  if  your 
mother's  arms  were  around  you." 


152        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

Christine  was  trembling  in  every  limb, 
but  she  reached  for  her  bonnet  and  tried 
to  tie  it  on.  Her  hands  shook  so  that  she 
let  it  fall.  Noel  picked  it  up  and  held  it  a 
moment,  saying  soothingly : 

"  Don't  hurry.  We  can  wait  a  little 
while,  if  you  wish.  Try  not  to  be  too  de 
spairing.  When  you  drive  away  from  here 
to-day  you  leave  the  past  behind  you,  and 
enter  into  a  new  and  different  life.  Your 
new  friend,  Mrs.  Murray,  will  know  you 
only  as  you  are  now,  and  you  may  meet 
no  one  unless  you  wish  to.  She  has  very 
few  friends  herself,  and  she  will  tell  them 
what  she  chooses  of  you.  You  will  see 
she  is  not  a  woman  that  people  will  dare 
to  ask  questions  of." 

He  stopped.  A  look  so  dreary,  strange 
and  full  of  anguish  had  come  into  Chris 
tine's  face  that  he  was  alarmed  and  said 
quickly : 

"What  is  it?" 

She  struck  her  hands  together  and  ut 
tered  a  low  cry. 

"  What    is    my    name  ? "    she    said,    in    a 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        153 

tone  so  wild  and  vacant  he  thought  her 
mind  was  wandering.  "It  used  to  be," 
she  said,  passing  one  hand  across  her 
forehead,  as  if  in  an  effort  of  memory  —  "  it 
used  to  be  Verrone  —  Christine  Verrone, 
but  I  am  not  that  happy-hearted  girl  the 
nuns  used  to  call  by  that  name.  This  is 
not  Christine  Verrone.  The  very  flesh 
and  blood  and  bones  of  this  body  are  dif 
ferent  —  and  surely  in  this  mind  and  heart 
and  soul  there  is  no  tinge  nor  remnant  of 
that  old  Christine.  How,  then,  can  I  be 
she  ?  Oh  !  I  have  no  home,  no  country, 
no  dwelling-place  on  earth ;  I  have  not 
even  a  name  to  be  called  by  !  " 

Noel  could  bear  no  more.  Taking  her 
hands  in  his,  he  held  them  firmly,  and 
looking  in  her  eyes,  said  fervently  : 

"  Then  take  my  name,  Christine.  Let 
me  give  you  a  home  and  friends,  and  call 
you  by  the  name  I  bear.  God  knows  I 
would  feel  honored  in  bestowing  it  upon 
you.  If  you  will  commit  your  precious 
life  into  my  keeping —  if  you  will  marry 
me  —  " 


i54       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

The  look  of  her  eyes  checked  him. 
The  meaning  of  his  words  had  dawned 
upon  her  slowly,  and  to  his  infinite  dis 
tress  he  saw  that  they  filled  her  with  pain. 

"  You  are  speaking  out  of  pity  for  me. 
You  think  I  would  die  beneath  it,  unless 
you  sacrificed  yourself  and  gave  me  the 
protection  of  your  name,"  she  said,  speak 
ing  almost  eagerly.  "  Tell  me  this  is  so. 
But  you  do  not  know  how  I  feel.  I  can 
bear  it  somehow,  or  else  I  can  die.  I 
could  never  accept  such  a  sacrifice  from 
you,  and,  oh,  I  could  never  think  of  mar 
riage  again,  even  to  the  best  and  noblest 
creature  on  God's  earth,  without  a  shrink 
ing  that  is  pain  intolerable." 

Noel  saw  he  had  made  a  mistake.  He 
saw,  too,  that  the  only  way  out  of  it  was 
to  let  her  put  this  interpretation  on  it.  So 
he  merely  soothed  and  comforted  her,  and 
told  her  things  should  be  as  she  chose, 
and  then  he  tied  her  bonnet  under  her 
chin  as  if  she  had  been  a  little  girl,  gave 
her  her  gloves,  lowered  the  veil  before  her 
face  and  asked  her  if  she  were  ready. 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        155 

"  You  will  take  your  sweet  girl-name," 
he  said,  "  and  be  known  as  Mrs.  Verrone. 
Only  Mrs.  Murray  and  I  will  know  any 
thing  of  your  past,  and  we  will  now  turn 
that  page,  Christine,  and  go  forth  into  a 
new  world  —  and  a  brighter  one,  please 
God." 


XII. 

CHRISTINE  was  ill  for  many  weeks, 
with  Dr.  Belford  in  daily  attendance, 
and  her  faithful  old  Eliza  to  help  Mrs. 
Murray  with  the  nursing.  All  during  the 
long  fever,  the  gentle,  little  old  lady,  to 
whom  Noel  had  confided  her,  watched 
and  tended  her  with  a  mother's  devotion 
and  love.  The  patient  was  far  too  ill  to 
protest,  and  very  soon  she  learned  to  lean 
upon  and  love  Mrs.  Murray  as  though  she 
had  indeed  been  her  mother.  Again  poor 
Noel  felt  himself  banished,  ignored  and 
excluded,  as  he  alone  was  kept  away  from 
her,  but  his  care  for  her  was  so  supremely 
above  his  care  for  himself  that  he  never 
made  a  complaint. 

He  had  learned  from  Eliza —  whose 
mouth  was  shut  so  tight  to  the  other  ser 
vants  that  she  went  among  them  almost  like 
a  dumb  woman  —  that  on  the  day  of  his 
making  the  announcement  concerning  her 
husband  to  Christine,  a  messenger  had 
156 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        157 

brought  Dallas  a  note,  after  reading  which 
he  had  hurriedly  put  a  few  things  into  a 
valise  and  left  the  house.  Since  then  he 
had  not  been  heard  from.  Evidently  Chris 
tine  had  warned  him  in  her  note  and  he  had 
run  away  to  escape  the  suit  for  bigamy. 
Noel  had  not  suspected  the  poor  girl's 
motive  in  writing,  but,  on  the  whole,  he  was 
glad.  It  was  the  simplest  and  surest  way  of 
getting  rid  of  him. 

At  last  Dr.  Belford  had  pronounced  the 
patient  convalescent,  and  she  was  sitting 
up  and  even  moving  about  the  up-stairs 
rooms. 

One  afternoon  Noel  came  to  the  house, 
as  usual,  to  make  inquiries.  As  he  mounted 
the  steps  he  saw  that  by  some  accident  the 
door  had  been  left  ajar.  He  bethought 
him  to  go  in  softly,  in  the  hope  of  finding 
Mrs.  Murray  in  one  of  the  lower  rooms  and 
taking  her  by  surprise.  He  had  bought 
a  big  bunch  of  crimson  roses  on  the  way. 
He  crossed  the  hall  softly  and  made  his 
way  to  the  cozy  little  sitting  -  room,  at 
tracted  by  the  flickering  light  of  a  wood 


158        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

fire,  which  looked  cheery  and  comfortable 
on  a  day  like  this.  It  was  burning  rather 
low,  but  the  room  was  still  partly  lighted 
from  without,  and  as  he  was  about  to  cross 
the  threshold  he  saw  a  picture  which  made 
him  pause. 

On  a  deep  lounge  half  turned  toward  the 
fire  a  girl  in  white  was  lying  fast  asleep.  It 
was  Christine.  Her  dark  hair  was  all 
gathered  loosely  back  and  coiled  in  a  large 
knot  low  down  against  her  fair  throat, 
from  which  the  white  lace  of  her  gown  fell 
backward,  leaving  its  beautiful  pureness 
bare.  There  was  a  charming  air  of  foreign 
taste  and  fashioning  about  the  whole  cos 
tume.  Poor  Christine  !  She  had  put  it  on 
obediently  when  Mrs.  Murray  had  brought 
it  to  her,  selecting  it  from  among  the  con 
tents  of  her  trunk  as  the  most  comfortable 
and  suitable  thing  for  the  convalescent  to 
wear.  It  had  been  long  since  she  had  worn 
or  even  looked  at  it,  and  it  had  brought 
back  sad  memories  of  her  pretty  wedding 
outfit,  but  all  her  clothes  had  sad  associations 
for  her,  and  the  ones  she  had  worn  more  re- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        159 

cently  would  have  been  worse  than  this.  So 
she  put  it  on  unquestioningly,  too  listless  to 
care  much  what  she  wore,  a  fact  which  did 
not  prevent  its  being  exquisitely  suitable  to 
her. 

She  was  very  white,  and  the  long  black 
lashes  that  lay  against  her  cheek  made  a 
dark  shadow  under  her  eyes  that  made  her 
look  the  more  fragile.  Her  face  was  in 
finitely  sad ;  the  corners  of  the  mouth 
drooped  piteously,  and  a  look  of  trouble 
now  and  then  slightly  contracted  the  brows. 

Noel,  who  had  cautiously  drawn  near, 
was  seated  in  a  low  chair  near  her  feet, 
scarcely  daring  to  breathe  for  fear  of  wak 
ing  her,  and  breaking  the  spell  which 
seemed  to  hold  him,  also,  in  a  sleep  of  en 
chantment.  He  made  up  his  mind  delib 
erately  that  he  would  remain  and  be  near 
her  when  she  waked.  He  had  kept  him 
self  away  from  her  long  enough.  Now  he 
must  see  and  talk  with  her.  He  sat  so  for 
some  time,  the  red  roses  in  his  hands,  and 
his  steady,  grave,  intense  dark  eyes  fast 
ened  upon  her  face.  Presently  a  long, 


160       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

deep  sigh  escaped  her,  and  the  fair  figure 
on  the  lounge  moved  slightly,  and  then 
settled  into  more  profound  repose.  It  was 
evident  that  she  was  sleeping  soundly.  A 
thought  occurred  to  Noel,  and  moving 
with  infinite  cautiousness  and  slowness  he 
took  the  roses  one  by  one  and  laid  them 
over  her  white  dress.  One  of  her  arms 
was  raised  above  her  head,  so  that  her 
cheek  rested  against  it,  and  the  other  lay 
along  her  side,  the  hand  relaxed  and 
empty. 

As  he  was  putting  the  last  rose  in  its 
place,  he  observed  this  little,  fragile  left 
hand  particularly  and  saw  a  thing  that 
made  his  heart  throb :  the  wedding-ring 
was  gone  from  it.  Christine  was  free  in 
deed  !  Here  was  the  sign  and  token  be 
fore  his  very  eyes.  Being  free  he  might 
win  her  for  his  own.  The  force  of  his  love 
in  this  minute  seemed  strong  enough  for 
any  task.  Oh,  if  he  could  only  be  patient ! 
He  felt  it  very  hard  —  the  hardest  task  that 
could  beset  him,  but  he  gathered  all  the 
strength  that  was  in  him  for  a  great  resolve 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        161 

of  patience.  The  sacredness  of  it  rendered 
it  a  prayer. 

And  Christine  slept  on  profoundly.  He 
had  known  each  moment  that  she  might 
wake  and  discover  him,  but  he  felt  himself 
prepared  for  that.  He  looked  at  her  and 
realized  that  she  was  well,  for  in  spite  of 
her  pallor,  she  had  the  look  of  youthful 
health  and  strength,  and  he  said  to  himself 
that  his  banishment  was  over  and  the  time 
to  set  himself  to  the  task  before  him  was 
come. 

As  he  kept  his  eyes  upon  her  lovely  face 
a  sudden  little  smile  lifted,  ever  so  slightly, 
the  corners  of  her  mouth,  as  if  there  were 
pleasure  in  her  dream.  The  man's  heart 
thrilled  to  see  it.  If  a  dream  could  make 
her  smile  —  if  the  power  to  smile  remained 
to  her  —  reality  should  do  it,  too.  If  he 
could  just  be  patient !  If  he  could  keep 
down  the  longing  in  his  heart  that  clamored 
for  relief  in  uttered  words ! 

A  piece  of  wood  upon  the  fire  fell  apart, 
sending  up  a  bright  little  blaze.  The  sound 
of  it  wakened  Christine.  Still  with  the 


162        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

memory  of  that  dream  upon  her  she  opened 
her  eyes,  and  met  Noel's  gaze  fixed  on  her 
in  sweet  friendliness  and  gladness.  For  an 
instant  neither  spoke.  Christine's  large 
eyes,  clear  as  jewels  in  the  firelight,  gazed 
at  him  across  the  bank  of  crimson  roses  that 
seemed  to  send  a  red  flush  to  her  face. 

Noel  spoke  first. 

"  All  right  again,  at  last !  "  he  said,  with 
a  cheering  smile.  "  Have  you  had  a  pleasant 
nap?" 

And  he  leaned  forward  and  held  out  his 
hand. 

A  rush  of  sad  remembrance  came  over 
Christine's  face.  The  lines  of  her  mouth 
trembled  a  little  and  she  dropped  her  eyes 
as  she  took  his  hand  in  both  her  own  and 
pressed  it  silently.  Noel  knew  the  touch 
meant  only  gratitude,  and  it  left  him  mis 
erably  unsatisfied,  but  he  felt  himself  strong 
to  wait.  She  dropped  his  hand,  and  for  a 
moment  covered  her  face  with  her  own,  as 
if  to  collect  herself  thoroughly.  Then  she 
sat  upright  in  her  seat,  scattering  the  roses 
to  the  floor.  Noel  knelt  to  gather  them  up 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        163 

for  her,  and  when  he  had  collected  the  great 
mass  into  a  gorgeous  bunch  he  knelt  still  as 
he  held  them  out  to  her. 

She  took  them,  hiding  her  face  in  their 
glowing  sweetness,  and  Noel,  rising,  walked 
a  few  steps  away,  feeling  it  impossible  to 
speak,  unless  he  allowed  himself  the  words 
he  had  forsworn. 

At  this  instant  a  cheery  voice  was  heard 
in  the  hall. 

"  Who  in  the  world  left  the  front  door 
open  ?  "  it  said,  in  energetic,  matter-of-fact 
tones,  at  the  sound  of  which  Noel  felt  sud 
denly  fortified. 

Mrs.  Murray  had  entered  just  in  time, 
for  the  sight  of  Christine  here  alone  had 
been  almost  too  much  for  the  resolutions  of 
reserve  in  which  he  had  flattered  himself  he 
was  so  strong. 


XIII. 

IN  a  little  while  the  lives  of  Mrs.  Murray 
and  Christine  had  settled  into  a  calm 
routine  of  work  and  talk,  and  the  simple 
recreations  of  reading  and  house-decorating 
which  were  the  only  ones  that  Christine  ever 
seemed  to  think  of.  She  never  went  out, 
and  worked  with  as  much  application  as 
Mrs.  Murray  would  permit  at  the  embroid 
ery  which,  at  her  earnest  request,  the  wise 
old  lady  had  got  for  her.  She  and  Chris 
tine  had  a  frank  and  loving  talk,  in  which 
one  was  as  interested  as  the  other,  in  Chris 
tine's  making  her  own  living,  and  in  which 
it  was  settled,  to  the  joy  of  each,  that  their 
home  in  future  was  to  be  together.  They 
were  days  of  strange  peace  and  calm  for  poor 
Christine,  and  her  heart  would  swell  with 
gratefulness  for  them,  as  she  sat  over  her 
beautiful  embroidery,  which  was  in  itself  a 
pleasure  to  her. 

But  the  evenings  were  the  best  of  all,  for 
then  Noel   invariably  came  —  sometimes  to 
164 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN       165 

look  in  and  say  a  bright  and  cheery  word, 
on  his  way  to  keep  an  engagement,  some 
times  to  give  them  the  benefit  of  the  bright 
stories  and  good  things  he  had  heard  at  a 
dinner,  and  sometimes  to  spend  a  whole 
long  evening,  talking,  laughing  and  reading 
aloud  from  new  magazines  and  books  which 
he  brought  with  him  in  abundance.  These 
were  the  sorts  of  delights  utterly  unknown 
to  Christine  before.  She  had  read  very  little, 
and  the  world  of  delight  that  reading  opened 
up  to  her  was  new,  inspiring  and  enchanting. 
Noel  read  aloud  his  favorite  poets,  their  two 
young  hearts  throbbing  together,  and  their 
eyes  alight  with  feeling  at  the  passages  which 
left  the  matured  heart  of  Mrs.  Murray  un 
disturbed. 

It  had  been  in  vain  that  Mrs.  Murray 
had  tried  to  induce  Christine  to  sing.  It 
occurred  to  her  at  last  to  put  it  in  the  light 
of  a  favor  to  herself,  and  when  she  told 
Christine  that  she  loved  music  very  dearly, 
and  rarely  had  an  opportunity  to  hear  it,  the 
girl  went  at  once  and  played  and  sang  for 
her,  and  then  Mrs.  Murray  used  the  same 


166        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

argument  —  that  of  giving  a  friend  pleasure 
—  with  regard  to  Noel.  At  first  it  was  dif 
ficult  and  awkward,  but  before  very  long 
Christine  and  Noel  were  singing  duets  to 
gether,  and  music  now  became  a  delightful 
part  of  their  evening's  entertainment.  How 
dull  the  evenings  were  when  Noel  did  not 
come  !  —  for  sometimes  there  were  engage 
ments  from  which  he  could  not  escape. 
Mrs.  Murray  missed  him  much  herself  and 
it  pleased  her  to  be  sure  that  Christine  did 
also.  Sometimes  he  would  come  late  after  a 
dinner,  and  if  it  were  only  a  brief  half-hour 
that  he  spent  with  them  it  made  the  evening 
seem  a  success,  instead  of  a  failure. 

After  a  little  while  Mrs.  Murray  suc 
ceeded  in  inducing  Christine  to  take  walks 
with  her  along  those  quiet  unfashionable 
streets,  in  the  bracing  air  of  the  late  autumn 
afternoons.  She  would  return  from  these 
expeditions  so  refreshed,  with  such  a  charm 
ing  color  in  the  fair,  sweet  face  to  which 
peace  and  love  and  protecting  companion 
ship  had  given  an  expression  of  new  beauty, 
that  Mrs.  Murray  would  be  half  protesting 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        167 

at  the  thought  that  the  people  that  passed 
it,  in  the  street,  were  deprived  of  a  sight  of 
its  loveliness  by  that  close,  thick  veil,  which 
it  never  seemed  to  occur  to  Christine  to  lay 
aside.  It  seemed  an  instinct  with  her,  and 
her  good  friend  felt  hurt  to  the  very  heart 
when  she  thought  what  the  instinct  had  its 
foundation  in. 

In  proportion  as  the  influence  of  these 
days  and  weeks  brought  peace  and  calm  to 
Christine,  to  Noel  they  brought  an  excited 
restlessness.  He  was  under  the  spell  of  the 
strongest  feeling  that  he  had  ever  known. 
All  the  circumstances  of  his  intercourse  with 
Christine,  the  difficult  self  -  repression  to 
which  he  had  compelled  himself  so  long, 
and  the  sudden  sense  of  her  freedom  which 
made  vigilance  harder  still  —  all  these  things 
together  brought  about  in  him  a  state  of 
excitement  that  kept  him  continually  on  a 
strain.  It  was  only  in  her  presence  that  he 
was  calm,  because  it  was  there  that  he  recog 
nized  most  fully  the  absolute  need  of  calm 
ness  and  self-control.  Away  from  her,  he 
sometimes  rushed  into  rash  resolves,  as  to  a 


i68        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

resolute  manly  sort  of  wooing  which  he  felt 
tremendously  impelled  to,  and  in  which  he 
felt  a  power  in  him  to  succeed.  He  would 
even  make  deliberate  plans,  and  imagine 
himself  going  to  the  house  and  insisting  on 
seeing  Christine  alone,  and  then  his  thoughts 
would  fairly  fly  along,  uttering  themselves  in 
excited  words  that  burned  their  way  to  Chris 
tine's  heart  and  melted  it. 

But  when,  in  actuality,  he  would  come  to 
where  she  was,  all  these  brave  and  manful 
purposes  faded,  like  mist,  before  the  com 
manding  spell  of  her  deep  and  solemn  calm. 
She  seemed  so  tranquil  in  her  assured  sense 
of  his  simple  friendliness  that  he  often 
thought  she  must  have  forgotten  entirely,  in 
the  excitement  that  followed,  that  he  had 
offered  her  his  heart  and  hand  and  name,  or 
else  that  she  was  so  convinced  of  the  fact 
that  it  had  been  done  in  pity  that  she  had 
never  given  it  a  second  thought. 

So  perplexed,  bewildered,  overwrought 
did  he  become  with  all  these  thoughts  that 
he  forced  himself  to  make  some  excuse  and 
stay  away  from  Christine.  When  at  last  he 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        169 

went  again,  it  was  late  in  the  evening  and  his 
time,  he  knew,  would  be  short.  It  was  three 
days  now  since  he  had  been,  and  his  blood 
flowed  quick  with  impatience.  He  had 
thought  of  little  else  as  he  sat  through  the 
long  dinner,  eating  the  dishes  set  before  him 
while  he  talked  with  a  certain  preoccupation 
to  the  beautiful  debutante  whom  he  had 
brought  in,  and  who  made  herself  her  most 
fascinating  for  him,  Noel  being  just  the  sort 
of  man  to  represent  such  a  girl's  ideal  — 
older,  graver,  more  finished  in  manner  than 
herself,  and  possessed  of  the  still  greater 
charm  of  being  thoroughly  initiated  in  all 
the  mysteries  of  the  great  world,  across 
whose  threshold  only  she  had  seen.  She 
was  exceedingly  pretty,  and  Noel  was  too 
much  an  artist  not  to  be  alive  to  it,  but  as 
he  looked  at  the  fair,  unwritten  page  her 
face  represented  to  him,  he  was  seeing,  in 
his  mind's  eye,  that  far  lovelier  face  on 
which  the  spiritualizing,  beautifying  hand  of 
sorrow  had  been  laid.  He  had  not  gone 
thus  far  on  his  journey  of  life  without  deep 
suffering  himself,  and  the  heart  that  had 


iyo        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

suffered  was  the  one  to  which  he  felt  his 
true  kinship.  At  the  close  of  the  dinner 
the  whole  party  adjourned  to  the  opera, 
Noel  alone  excusing  himself,  at  the  door 
of  the  debutante 's  carriage,  on  the  plea  of 
an  important  engagement.  The  lovely  bud 
looked  vexed  and  disappointed,  but  Noel 
knew  his  place  at  her  side  would  be  abun 
dantly  rilled,  and  got  himself  away  with  all 
the  haste  decorum  permitted. 

When  he  rang  at  Mrs.  Murray's  door 
Harriet  ushered  him  into  the  little  drawing- 
room  where  Christine  was  seated  at  the 
piano  singing.  Mrs.  Murray  was  not  pres 
ent.  Motioning  the  servant  not  to  an 
nounce  him  he  took  his  position  behind 
a  screen,  where  he  could  see  and  hear 
without  being  seen.  Christine  had  heard 
neither  his  ring  nor  his  entrance,  so  she 
was  utterly  unconscious  of  any  presence 
but  her  own,  and  indeed  most  probably  not 
of  that,  for  there  was  a  strange  abandonment 
to  sway  of  the  song  as.  her  voice,  rich  and 
full  and  deep,  sang  softly  : 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        171 

"  I  am  weary  with  rowing,  with  rowing, 
Let  me  drift  adown  with  the  stream. 
I  am  weary  with  rowing,  with  rowing, 
Let  me  lay  me  down  and  dream." 

Noel  knew  the  little  song  well,  and  in  his 
fancy  the  full,  pathetic  voice  gave  it  a  sound 
and  meaning  that  his  longing  heart  desired 
to  hear  in  it.  The  thrilling  voice  sang  on, 
low  and  deep  and  full : 

"The  stream  in  its  flowing,  its  flowing, 

Shall  bear  us  adown  to  the  sea. 
I  am  weary  with  rowing,  with  rowing, 

I  yield  me  to  love  and  to  thee. 
I  can  struggle  no  longer,  no  longer, 

Here  in  thine  arms  let  me  lie, 
In  thine  arms  which  are  stronger,  are  stronger 

Than  all  on  the  earth,  let  me  die." 

The  sweet  voice  trembled  as  the  song 
came  to  an  end,  and  Christine,  with  a  swift, 
impulsive  movement,  put  her  elbows  on  the 
keys  of  the  piano,  making  a  harsh  discord 
of  sound,  and  dropped  her  face  in  her 
hands.  She  remained  so,  without  moving, 
for  several  minutes,  while  Noel,  thrilling  in 
all  his  senses  to  the  power  of  that  subtly 


i72       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

sweet  song,  kept  also  profoundly  still. 
He  felt  it  was  his  only  safety.  If  he  had 
moved,  it  must  have  been  to  clasp  her  in 
his  arms. 

At  last  she  rose  to  her  feet  and  began  to 
put  the  music  in  order.  It  was  a  moment 
when  life,  for  each  of  them,  seemed  very 
hard.  And  yet,  to  one  who  looked  and  saw 
them  so,  it  seemed  as  if  the  best  that  earth 
could  offer  might  be  theirs,  and  that  they 
were  made  and  fashioned  to  have  and  to 
enjoy  it. 

The  pretty  room  was  a  soft  glow  of  fire 
light  and  lamplight  mingled.  The  rich 
harmonies  of  dark  color  made  by  carpets, 
hangings  and  furniture  were  lighted  here 
and  there  by  an  infinite  number  of  the 
charming  little  things  that  are  the  perfect 
ing  touches  of  a  tasteful  room.  A  bunch 
of  freshly-gathered  autumn  leaves  was 
massed  under  the  light  from  the  shaded 
lamp.  Near  by  sat  Christine.  She  had 
taken  up  a  strip  of  gorgeous  embroidery 
in  her  hands,  and  was  bending  above  it 
and  trying  hard  to  put  her  stitches  in  with 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        173 

care.  To-night  there  was  a  steady  flush  in 
her  cheeks  that  made  her  look  more  beauti 
ful  than  he  had  ever  seen  her.  He  ad 
vanced  a  step  or  two,  and  stood,  unseen,  at 
a  little  distance  from  her,  making  uncon 
sciously  a  complement  to  the  picture.  He 
took  a  step  forward  —  and  she  heard  the 
sound  and  lifted  her  head.  He  came  nearer 
and  his  voice  was  sweet  and  thrilling  as  he 
said  her  name : 

"  Christine." 

She  raised  her  eyes  and  looked  at  him  ; 
but  they  dropped  before  his  steady  gaze, 
and  she  did  not  answer. 

"  Let  me  speak  to  you  a  little,  dear  Chris 
tine,"  he  went  on,  taking  a  seat  near  her. 
He  had  himself  well  in  hand  and  was  de 
termined  not  to  blunder.  Christine  sat  op 
posite  and  drew  her  needle  through  and 
through,  saying  neither  yes  nor  no.  "  I 
want  to  be  very  careful  not  to  hurt  you," 
Noel  went  on,  "  but  I  have  had  it  on  my 
mind  a  long,  long  time  to  talk  to  you 
about  yourself.  Do  you  intend  to  lead 
always,  without  change  or  variation,  the 


i74       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

isolated,  dull,  restricted  life  you  are  leading 
now  ?  " 

"  Oh,  don't  speak  to  me  of  any  change  !  " 
she  said  entreatingly.  "  You  have  been  so 
good  to  me.  Be  good  to  me  still.  Let  me 
stay  here,  as  I  am,  in  this  heaven  of  rest 
and  peace.  Mrs.  Murray  will  keep  me. 
She  is  not  tired  of  me.  She  loves  to  have 
me,  and  it  is  my  one  idea  of  blessedness 
and  comfort  and  rest." 

Her  voice  was  agitated  almost  to  tears, 
and  she  had  dropped  her  work  and  clasped 
her  hands  together  with  a  piteousness  of 
appeal. 

"  No  one  will  hinder  you,  Christine,"  he 
said.  "  Mrs.  Murray  is  made  better  and 
brighter  and  happier  by  your  presence 
every  day,  and  it  would  be  only  the  great 
est  grief  to  her  to  part  with  you.  This  is 
your  sure  and  safe  and  certain  home  as 
long  as  she  lives,  unless,  of  your  own 
choice,  you  should  choose  to  change  it" 

Christine  shook  her  head  with  a  denial 
of  the  thought  that  was  almost  indignant. 

"  Never,"   she    said,  "  oh,    never,   never ! 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        175 

I  only  ask  to  stay  here,  as  I  am,  until  I 
die." 

"  Christine,"  he  said,  and  she  could  feel 
his  strong  gaze  on  her,  through  her  lowered 
lids,  "  try  to  be  honest  with  your  own 
heart.  Listen  to  its  voice  and  you  will 
have  to  own  you  are  not  happy." 

"  Happy  !  How  could  I  ever  expect  to 
be  ?  It  would  be  a  shame  to  me  even  to 
think  of  it.  Oh,  you  do  not  know  a 
woman's  nature,  or  you  could  not  talk  to 
me  of  happiness." 

"  I  know  your  woman's  nature,  Chris 
tine  —  well  enough  to  reverence  it  and  kneel 
to  it,  and  I  am  not  afraid  to  tell  you  you 
are  outraging  and  wronging  it,  by  shutting 
out  happiness  from  your  heart.  What  is 
there  to  hinder  you  from  being  happy  ? 
And  oh,  Christine,  I  know  at  least,  there 
is  no  happiness  but  love." 

A  silence,  solemn  and  still  as  death,  fol 
lowed  these  fervent,  low-toned  words.  He 
could  see  the  fluttering  of  her  breath,  and 
the  look  of  deep,  affrighted  pain  upon  her 
face  made  his  heart  quiver. 


ij6        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"  Christine,"  he  murmured  in  a  voice 
grown  softer  and  lower  still,  "  try  not  to 
be  frightened  or  distressed.  I  cannot  hold 
back  my  heart  any  longer.  I  love  you  — 
dear  and  good  and  noble  one.  If  you  could 
only  love  me  a  little,  in  return,  I  could 
make  you  so  happy.  I  know  I  could, 
Christine,  and  as  for  me  —  why  my  life,  if 
you  refuse  me  your  love,  is  worthless  and 
wasted  and  dead.  Oh,  Christine,  you  are 
the  very  treasure  of  my  heart,  whether  you 
will  or  no.  Be  my  wife.  You  can  make 
my  happiness,  as  surely  as  I,  if  you  will  let 
me,  can  make  yours." 

He  would  not  venture  to  take  her  hand, 
but  he  held  out  his  to  her,  saying  in  a  voice 
that  had  sunk  to  a  whisper : 

"  Only  put  your  hand  in  mine,  Christine, 
in  token  that  you  will  try  to  love  me  a  little, 
and  I  will  wait  for  all  the  rest." 

He  had  bent  very  close  to  her,  and  she 
felt  his  breath  against  her  hair  as  his  pas 
sionate  whisper  fell  upon  her  ear.  Her 
heart  thrilled  to  it,  but  she  got  up  stiffly  to 
her  feet,  bending  her  body  away  from  him 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        177 

and  covering  her  eyes,  for  a  moment,  with 
her  hand. 

Noel,  who  had  risen  too,  stepped  back 
ward  instantly.  He  saw  her  lips  com 
pressed  convulsively  as  if  in  pain,  and,  for 
her  sake,  he  thrust  down  into  his  heart  its 
great  longing,  and  forced  himself  to  think 
of  her  alone.  It  cut  him  like  a  knife  to  see 
that  she  drew  away  from  him. 

"  Don't  shrink  from  me,  Christine,"  he 
said.  "  If  it  distresses  you  for  me  to  speak 
I  can  be  silent.  I  was  obliged  to  tell  you, 
but  there  it  can  stop.  I  have  laid  the  offer 
ing  of  my  love  and  life  before  you  and  there 
it  is  for  you  to  take  or  leave.  Perhaps  I 
have  startled  you.  If  you  will  only  think 
about  it  and  try  to  get  used  to  the  idea — " 

But  Christine  had  found  her  voice. 

"  I  cannot  think  of  it !  "  she  cried.  "  I 
utterly  refuse  to  think  of  it.  Oh,  I  am 
more  miserable  than  ever  I  have  been  yet ! 
If  I  am  to  make  you  unhappy  —  if  I  am  to 
spoil  your  life — " 

"You  have  beautified  and  glorified  and 
crowned  it  with  love,  Christine.  I  should 


i78        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

have  gone  to  my  grave  without  it,  if  you 
had  not  given  it  to  me.  It  is  a  godlike 
thing  to  feel  what  I  feel  for  you.  Come 
what  may  I  shall  never  be  sorry  for  it. 
You  have  nothing  to  reproach  yourself 
with." 

Christine  was  very  pale.  She  felt  her 
self  trembling  as  she  sank  into  a  chair  and 
clasped  her  hands  about  her  knee.  Noel 
too  sat  down,  but  farther  away  from  her 
than  he  had  been  before. 

"  I  entreat  you  not  to  be  distressed — " 
he  began,  but  she  interrupted  him. 

"  Oh,  I  feel  —  I  cannot  tell  you  what  I 
feel,"  she  said.  "Was  ever  a  woman  at 
once  so  honored  and  so  shamed  ?  How 
could  I  give  to  any  man  a  ruined  life  like 
mine,  and  yet  God  knows  how  it  is  sweet 
to  me  to  know  you  have  this  feeling  for 
me  —  to  know  that  I  may  still  arouse  in 
such  a  heart  as  yours  this  highest,  holiest, 
purest,  best  of  all  the  heart  can  give.  Oh, 
I  pray  God  to  let  you  feel  and  know  the 
joy  it  is  to  me  —  and  yet  I'd  rather  cut  off 
my  right  hand  than  listen  even  to  the 
thought  of  marrying  you." 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        179 

Noel  could  not  understand  her.  The 
look  in  her  face  completely  baffled  him. 

"  Christine,"  he  said,  "  there  is  but  one 
thing  to  do.  On  one  thing  alone  the  whole 
matter  rests.  Look  at  me." 

His  voice  was  resolute,  though  it  was  so 
gentle,  and  in  obedience  to  its  bidding 
Christine  raised  her  eyes  to  his. 

"Answer  me  this,  Christine.  Do  you 
love  me  ? " 

And  looking  straight  into  his  eyes  she 
answered : 

"  No." 

Noel  rose  from  his  seat  and  crossed  over 
to  the  fire,  where  he  stood  with  his  back 
toward  her.  He  did  not  see  the  passion 
ate  gesture  with  which  she  strained  her 
clasped  hands  to  her  breast  a  moment  and 
then  stretched  them  out  toward  him.  In  a 
second  she  withdrew  them  and  let  them 
fall  in  her  lap.  Her  heart  reproached  her 
for  the  falseness  of  her  tongue,  and  this 
had  been  a  passionate  impulse  of  atone 
ment  to  him  for  the  wrong  that  she  had 
done.  But  stronger  than  her  heart  was 


i8o       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

the  other  voice  that  told  her  to  make  her 
utmost  effort  to  keep  up  the  deceit,  for  in 
the  moment  that  the  knowledge  came  to 
her  that  her  heart,  for  the  first  time,  was 
possessed  by  a  true  and  mighty  love  an 
instinct  stronger  than  that  love  itself  com 
pelled  her  to  deny  it  —  to  give  any  answer, 
go  any  length,  do  anything  sooner  than 
make  an  admission  by  which  she  might  be 
betrayed  into  doing  a  great  and  ineradi 
cable  wrong  to  the  man  she  loved.  Yes, 
the  man  she  loved !  For  one  second's 
space  she  let  the  inward  flame  leap  up, 
and  then  she  forced  it  back  and  smothered 
it  down,  with  all  the  power  that  was  in 
her. 

When  Noel  turned,  his  face  was  calm 
and  he  spoke,  too,  in  a  controlled  and 
quiet  voice. 

"  We  will  not  be  the  less  friends  for  this, 
Christine,"  he  said ;  "  the  best  that  is  left 
to  me  is  to  be  near  you  when  I  can.  You 
will  not  forbid  me  this  ?  " 

He  saw  that  her  eyes  consented.  To 
save  her  life  she  could  not  deny  him  this 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        181 

—  or  deny  herself.  Which  was  it  that  she 
thought  of  first  ? 

"  I  think  it  best  that  Mrs.  Murray  should 
not  know  of  it,"  he  said,  and  again  she 
consented  without  speaking. 

"  I  shall  come  as  usual,"  he  went  on, 
"and,  Christine,  never  reproach  yourself. 
Never  dream  but  that  it  is  more  joy  than 
I  could  ever  have  had  in  any  other  way, 
only  to  come  and  see  you  and  be  near  you 
and  hear  you  speak  sometimes.  Good 
night,"  he  added,  taking  her  cold,  little 
hand  in  a  gentle  clasp.  "It  is  the  last 
time.  You  will  see  how  faithful  I  will  be. 
But  once  for  all  —  Christine,  Christine, 
Christine  !  —  let  me  tell  you  that  I  love  you 
with  as  great  and  true  and  strong  a  love  as 
ever  man  had  for  woman.  You  seem  to 
me  a  being  between  earth  and  Heaven  — 
better  than  men  and  women  here,  and  only 
a  little  below  the  angels." 

She  felt  the  hand  that  held  hers  loose 
its  hold,  the  kind  voice  died  away,  a  door 
far  off  shut  to,  and  Christine,  rousing  her 
self,  looked  about  her  and  found  that  she 
was  alone. 


XIV. 

TWO  evenings  later  Noel  called  again? 
finding  Mrs.  Murray  recovered  and 
able  to  join  the  group  around  the  table  as 
usual.  There  was  no  consciousness  ex 
pressed  in  the  eyes  of  either  Christine  or 
himself  as  they  met.  At  first  she  was 
very  grave  and  silent,  but  under  the  influ 
ence  of  his  easy  talk  her  manner  became 
perfectly  natural,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
evening  she  found  herself  wondering  if  the 
exciting  occurrences  of  their  last  meeting 
could  be  reality.  Noel  read  aloud  most  of 
the  evening  an  agreeable,  unexciting  book, 
and  Christine  thanked  him  from  her  heart 
that  he  did  not  ask,  as  usual,  for  music. 

As  for  Mrs.  Murray,  as  the  days  went 
on  she  found  herself  continually  wondering 
that  such  a  state  of  things  could  last.  She 
was  perfectly  sure  of  Noel's  feeling,  and 
she  thought  its  continued  entire  suppres 
sion  very  strange.  She  was  often  tempted 
to  make  some  excuse  to  leave  them  alone, 
182 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        183 

but  a  fear  of  the  consequences  held  her 
back,  for  she  was  absolutely  unable  to  cal 
culate  upon  Christine.  She  had  not  the 
courage  to  lift  a  finger  in  the  matter. 

Almost  imperceptibly  a  change  was  com 
ing  over  Christine,  and  by  degrees  Mrs. 
Murray  became  aware  of  it.  She  grew 
more  silent  and  fond  of  being  alone.  She 
even  went  out  now  and  took  long,  com- 
panionless  walks,  coming  home  exhausted 
and  preoccupied.  "  Poor  girl !  "  thought 
her  kind,  old  friend.  "  She  is  very  un 
happy,  and  for  a  little  while,  in  her  deliver 
ance  from  a  worse  unhappiness,  she  had 
managed  to  forget  it  partly." 

On  one  occasion  Noel  rather  urgently 
pressed  the  matter  of  being  allowed  to 
bring  his  mother  and  sisters  to  call.  He 
did  so  in  the  hope  that  time  might  have 
somewhat  modified  Christine's  feeling  in 
the  matter,  but  he  found  it  absolutely  un 
changed  and  was  obliged  to  withdraw  his 
request. 

As  the  days  and  weeks  went  by  Noel 
became  every  day  more  restless  and 


1 84        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

gloomy.  He  was  unhappy  if  he  stayed 
away  from  Christine,  and  yet  to  be  in  her 
presence  merely  as  a  friendly  visitor  was 
often  galling  and  depressing  to  an  almost 
intolerable  degree.  He  scarcely  ever  saw 
her  alone  for  a  moment,  and  he  had  a  cer 
tain  conviction  that  while  Mrs.  Murray  did 
some  gentle  plotting  to  leave  them  tete- 
a-tete  Christine  managed  ingeniously  to 
thwart  her  plans. 

About  this  time  he  was  compelled  to  go 
away  for  a  week  on  a  business  expedition, 
and  so,  for  more  than  that  space  of  time, 
he  had  not  called  at  Mrs.  Murray's.  When 
he  rang  the  door-bell  on  the  evening  of 
his  return  Harriet,  who  answered  it,  left 
him  to  find  his  way  alone  to  the  pretty 
sitting-room,  warm  and  lighted  and  empty, 
as  he  thought.  The  next  instant,  however, 
his  heart  gave  a  bound,  as  he  saw  at  its 
opposite  end  Christine,  tall  and  slight  and 
young  and  beautiful,  standing,  with  her  back 
turned,  before  a  table  against  the  wall,  on 
which  a  large  engraving  rested. 

It  was   heavily  framed    and   he  knew  he 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        185 

had  never  seen  it  there  before.  The  fact 
was  Mrs.  Murray,  who  had  a  very  romantic 
heart,  had  seen  it  in  a  shop-window  and 
impulsively  bought  it,  and  it  had  just  been 
sent  home. 

Noel,  stepping  with  the  utmost  caution 
over  the  thick  carpet,  came  near  enough  to 
look  at  the  picture  over  Christine's  shoulder. 
He  knew  it  well.  It  was  Frederick  Leigh- 
ton's  "Wedded." 

As  the  man  and  woman  stood  before  it 
each  was  under  the  spell  of  that  beautiful 
representation  of  abandonment  to  love  — 
the  deep  and  holy  wedded  love  which  is 
the  God-given  right  of  every  man  and 
woman  who  lives  and  feels. 

Christine  was  utterly  unconscious  of  his 
nearness  as  she  bent  toward  it  eagerly.  He 
could  see  by  the  movement  of  her  throat 
and  shoulders  that  her  breaths  were  coming 
thick  and  fast  and  her  heart  was  beating  hard. 
As  for  him  the  fact  that  he  was  near  to  her 
was  the  supreme  consciousness  of  that  mo 
ment  to  him,  and  all  the  meaning  of  this 
consciousness  was  in  his  voice,  as  he  whis 
pered  her  name : 


186        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"  Christine ! " 

She  started  and  turned.  His  eyes  caught 
hers  and  held  them.  For  a  moment  she 
found  it  impossible  to  release  them  from 
his  compelling  gaze.  She  was  under  the 
spell  of  the  picture  still.  It  had  broken 
down  the  habitual  barriers  of  restraint  and 
self-control,  and  sent  an  exultant  gleam  into 
her  heart,  which  her  face  reflected. 

"  Christine !  "  he  said  again  in  that  thrill 
ing  whisper. 

The  sound  of  his  voice  recalled  her. 
That  strange,  exalted  look  gave  place  to 
another,  which  was  as  if  a  withering  blight 
had  crossed  her  face,  and  she  turned  and 
looked  at  Noel.  He  met  that  look  of  deso 
lation  and  anguish  with  firm,  unflinching 
eyes. 

"  I  love  you,"  he  whispered  low,  but 
clear. 

"  Then  spare  me,"  she  whispered  back. 

"  Once  more,  Christine,"  he  said.  They 
kept  their  places,  a  few  feet  apart,  and 
neither  moved  a  muscle  except  for  the 
slight  motion  of  their  lips,  from  which  the 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        187 

faint  sounds  came  forth  like  ghostly  whis 
pers.  "  Once  more,  Christine  —  answer  me 
this.  Do  you  love  me  ?  " 

And  again  she  answered  : 

"  No." 

The  tone  in  which  she  said  it  was  strong 
and  steady  in  spite  of  its  lowness,  and  the 
eyes  confirmed  it. 

The  suspense  was  over.  With  that 
strange  recollectedness  which  human  beings 
often  have  in  the  sharpest  crises  of  their 
lives  Noel  suppressed  the  great  sigh  that 
had  risen  from  his  heart,  and  let  the  breath 
of  it  go  forth  from  his  parted  lips,  with  care 
ful  pains  to  make  no  sound. 

It  was  a  relief  to  both  that  at  this  moment 
Mrs  Murray  came  into  the  room.  They 
turned  abruptly  from  the  picture,  and  in  the 
cordial  greeting  which  the  hostess  bestowed 
upon  her  guest  the  moment's  ordeal  was 
successfully  passed.  Not,  however,  without 
the  watchful  eyes  of  Mrs.  Murray  having 
seen  much,  and  conjectured  far  more. 
Whether  her  impulse  in  buying  the  picture 
had  done  good  or  harm  she  was  puzzled  to 
determine. 


XV. 

NOEL,  during  the  sleepless  hours  of 
the  night  which  followed,  looked  the 
whole  situation  in  the  face  and  made  his 
resolutions,  strong  and  fast,  for  the  future 
of  Christine  and  himself.  His  love  for  her, 
which  she  had  not  forbidden  and  could  not 
forbid,  must  be  enough  for  him  henceforth, 
and  because  all  his  soul  desired  her  love  in 
return  she  should  not,  for  that  reason,  be  de 
prived  of  his  friendship.  When  he  thought 
of  loving  any  other  woman,  and  being  loved 
by  her  in  return,  and  contrasted  it  with  the 
mere  right  to  love  Christine  and  be  near  her, 
forever  unloved,  he  felt  himself  rich  beyond 
telling. 

That  evening,  determined  to  put  into 
effect  at  once  this  new  resolution  and  con 
veying  some  hint  of  it  to  Christine,  he  went 
to  Mrs.  Murray's.  He  rang  the  bell  and 
entered  the  house  with  a  strong  sense  of  self- 
possession,  which  was  only  a  very  little  dis 
turbed  when  the  maid  again  ushered  him 
til 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN       189 

into  the  little  drawing-room  where  he  found 
Christine  alone. 

He  could  see  that  his  coming  was  utterly 
unexpected.  The  lamp,  by  which  she 
usually  sat  at  work,  was  not  lighted,  and 
the  gas  in  the  hall  cast  only  a  dim  light 
upon  her  here,  but  the  fire  lent  its  aid  in 
lighting  up  the  figure.  She  was  lying  on 
the  lounge  before  the  fire  as  he  came  in,  but 
she  rose  to  her  feet  at  once,  saying,  in  a  voice 
whose  slight  ring  of  agitation  disturbed  a 
little  farther  yet  his  self-poised  calm  : 

"  Mrs.  Murray  has  gone  to  see  a  neighbor 
whose  daughter  is  very  ill.  They  have 
just  moved  to  the  house  and  have  no 
friends  near,  and  she  went  to  see  what  she 
could  do.  She  will  be  back  very  soon. 
She  did  not  think  you  would  come  to 
night." 

Noel  heard  the  little  strained  sound  in 
her  voice,  and  fancied  he  saw  also  about 
her  eyes  a  faint  trace  of  recent  tears ;  but 
the  light  was  turned  low  and  she  stood 
with  her  back  to  it,  as  if  to  screen  herself 
from  his  gaze.  A  great  wave  of  tender- 


190       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

ness  possessed  his  heart.  He  felt  sure  he 
could  trust  himself  to  be  tender  and  no 
more,  as  he  said  gently  : 

<f  Christine,  have  you  been  crying  —  here 
all  alone  in  the  darkness,  with  no  one  to 
comfort  and  help  you  to  bear?  The 
thought  of  it  wrings  my  heart." 

"  Oh,  it  is  nothing,"  she  said,  her  voice, 
in  spite  of  her,  choking  up.  "  I  sometimes 
get  nervous  —  I  am  not  used  to  being  alone. 
It  is  over  now.  I  will  get  the  lamp  —  " 

But  he  stopped  her.  He  made  one  step 
toward  her  and  took  both  her  hands  in  his. 

"Wait,"  he  said,  in  a  controlled  and 
quiet  tone.  In  the  silence  that  followed 
the  word  they  could  hear  the  little  clock  on 
the  mantel  ticking  monotonously.  Noel 
was  trying  hard,  as  they  stood  thus  alone 
in  the  stillness  and  half-darkness,  to  gather 
up  his  suddenly-weakened  forces,  so  that 
he  might  tell  her,  in  the  hope  of  giving  her 
comfort,  of  the  resolute  purpose  he  had 
entered  into.  But  in  the  moment  which  he 
gave  himself  to  make  this  rally  a  sudden 
influence  came  over  him  from  the  contact 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        191 

of  the  cold  hands  he  held  in  his.  At  first 
it  was  a  subtle,  faint,  indefinite  sensation, 
as  of  something  strange  and  wonderful  and 
far  away,  but  coming  nearer.  The  very 
breath  of  his  soul  seemed  suspended,  to 
listen  and  look  as  he  waited.  The  clock 
ticked  on,  and  they  stood  there  motionless 
as  statues.  Suddenly  a  short,  low  sigh 
escaped  Christine,  and  he  felt  her  cold 
hands  tremble.  The  swift  consciousness 
that  ran  through  Noel  was  like  living  ec 
stasy  injected  in  his  veins.  He  drew  her 
two  hands  upward  and  crushed  them 
against  his  breast. 

"  Christine,"  he  said,  "  you  love  me." 

She  met  his  ardent,  agitated  gaze  with 
direct,  unflinching  eyes. 

"  Yes,"  she  said  distinctly,  "  I  love  you," 
but  with  the  exertion  of  all  her  power  she 
shook  herself  free  from  his  grasp,  and 
sprang  away  from  him  to  the  farthest  limit  of 
the  little  room. 

"  Stop,"  she  said,  waving  him  back  with 
her  hand.  "  I  have  owned  the  truth,  but  I 
must  speak  to  you  — " 


i94       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

came,  against  my  will,  in  spite  of  hard  fight 
ing  and  struggling  and  trying,  I  went  a  step 
higher  yet  and  loved  you,  with  a  love  that 
takes  in  all  the  rest  —  that  is  admiration, 
and  trust,  and  reverence,  and  love  in  one. 
Oh,"  she  said  with  a  great  sigh,"  but  it  is  all 
in  vain  !  I  cannot  tell  you  —  I  cannot !  I 
say  the  utmost,  and  it  seems  pale  and  poor 
and  miserably  weak.  You  do  not  under 
stand  the  love  you  have  called  into  being 
in  my  poor,  broken  heart.  I  thought  I 
should  have  the  comfort  of  feeling  I  had 
told  you.  I  feel  only  that  I  have  failed ! 
Oh,  before  we  part,  I  want  you  to  know 
how  I  love  you  —  how  the  stress  of  it  is 
bursting  my  heart  —  how  the  mightiness  of 
it  seems  to  expand  my  soul  until  it  touches 
Heaven.  Oh,  if  I  could  only  ease  my 
heart  of  its  great  weight  of  love  by  finding 
words  to  tell  you." 

He  put  his  lips  close  to  her  ear. 

"  One  kiss,"  he  said  softly,  and  then 
turned  them  to  meet  hers. 

Christine  gave  him  the  kiss,  and  it  was  as 
he  had  said.  The  stress  upon  her  heart 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        195 

was  loosened.  She  felt  that  she  had  told 
him  all. 

"  You  are  mine,"  he  said,  in  a  calm,  low 
voice  of  controlled  exultation,  although, 
even  as  he  said  it,  he  loosed  her  from  his 
arms  and  suffered  her  to  move  away  from 
him  and  sink  into  a  chair.  He  came  and 
sat  down  opposite  her,  repeating  the  words 
he  had  spoken. 

"  No,"  she  said,  "  I  am  my  own  !  I  am 
the  stronger  to  be  so,  now  that  the  whole 
truth  is  known  to  you.  Mr.  Noel,  I  have 
only  to  tell  you  good-by.  To-night  must 
be  the  very  last  of  it." 

"Mr.  Noel ! "  he  threw  the  words  back 
to  her,  with  a  little  scornful  laugh.  "  You 
can  never  call  me  that  again,  without  feel 
ing  it  the  hollowest  pretence !  I  tell  you 
you  are  mine  1 " 

The  assured,  determined  calm  of  his 
tones  and  looks  began  to  frighten  her.  She 
saw  the  struggle  before  her  assuming  pro 
portions  that  made  her  fear  for  herself —  not 
for  the  strength  of  her  resolve,  but  for  her 
power  to  carry  it  out.  She  could  only  re 
peat,  as  if  to  fortify  herself: 


196        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"  I  will  never  marry  you." 

"  Why  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Because  —  ah,  because  I  love  you  too 
much.  Be  merciful,  and  let  that  thought 
plead  for  me." 

"It  is  for  the  same  reason  that  I  will 
never  give  you  up.  It  is  no  use  to  oppose 
me  now,  Christine.  You  are  mine  and  I 
am  yours." 

"  But  if  you  know  that  you  make  me 
suffer — " 

"  I  know,  too,  that  I  can  comfort  you. 
I  know  I  can  make  you  happy,  beyond 
your  highest  dreams.  I  know  I  can  take 
you  away  from  every  association  of  sad 
ness,  far  off  to  beautiful  foreign  countries 
where  no  one  will  know  us  for  anything 
but  what  we  are —  what  alone  we  shall  be 
henceforth,  a  man  and  woman  who  love 
each  other  and  who  have  been  united  in  the 
holy  bond  of  marriage,  which  God  has 
blessed  — just  a  husband  and  wife,  Christine 
—  get  used  to  the  dear  names  and  thought  — 
with  whose  right  to  love  each  other  no  one 
will  have  anything  to  do.  If  the  idea  of 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        197 

the  past  disturbs  you  we  will  get  rid  of  it 
by  going  where  we  have  no  past,  where  no 
one  will  ever  have  heard  of  us  before.  As 
for  ourselves,  Christine,  I  can  give  you  my 
honor  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  past  of 
either  of  us  that  disturbs  me  for  one  pulse- 
beat,  and  I'll  engage  to  make  you  forget  all 
that  it  pains  you  to  remember.  Why,  it  is 
a  simple  thing  to  do.  We  send  for  a  clergy 
man,  and  here  in  this  room,  with  Mrs.  Mur 
ray  and  Eliza  and  Harriet  for  witnesses,  we 
are  married  to-morrow  morning!  In  the 
afternoon  we  sail  for  Europe,  to  begin  our 
long  life  of  happiness  together.  You  know 
whether  I  could  make  you  happy  or  not, 
Christine.  You  know  whether  your  heart 
longs  to  go  with  me  — just  as  surely  as  I 
know  that  my  one  possible  chance  of  hap 
piness  is  in  getting  your  consent  to  be 
my  wife." 

"  I  cannot !  "  she  said,  "  I  cannot !  We 
must  think  of  others  beside  ourselves.  If 
you  are  willing  to  sacrifice  yourself,  think 
of  your  mother  and  sisters  !  " 

"Sacrifice    myself!      I     sacrifice    myself 


i98        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

only  if  I  give  you  up.  You  must  feel  the 
falseness  of  such  a  use  of  the  word.  As  for 
my  mother  and  sisters,  I  ask  you  to  test 
that  matter.  Agree  to  marry  me  and  I 
promise  that  they  will  come  to  our  wed 
ding,  and  my  mother  will  call  you  daughter, 
and  my  sisters  will  call  you  sister,  and  they 
will  open  their  hearts  to  you  and  love  you." 

"  Because  your  will  is  all-powerful  with 
them,"  she  said. 

"Yes,  partly  because  they  trust  and  be 
lieve  in  me,  and  will  sanction  what  I  do  ; 
and  also  because  —  in  spite  of  a  good  deal 
of  surface  conventionality  and  worldliness  — 
they  are  right-minded,  true-hearted,  good 
women,  who  will  only  need  to  know  your 
whole  history,  as  I  know  it,  and  to  realize 
my  love  for  you,  as  I  can  make  them  realize 
it,  to  feel  that  our  marriage  is  the  right  and 
true  and  only  issue  of  it  all." 

Christine  felt  herself  terribly  shaken. 
She  did  not  dare  to  look  at  Noel  lest  her 
eyes  might  betray  her,  and  she  would  not 
for  anything  have  him  to  know  how  she 
was  weakened  in  her  resolve  by  what  he 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN       199 

had  said  of  his  mother  and  sisters.  The 
conviction  with  which  he  spoke  had  carried 
its  own  force  to  her  mind,  and  she  sud 
denly  found  the  strongest  weapon  with 
which  she  had  fought  her  fight  shattered  in' 
her  hands.  He  saw  that  she  was  weaken 
ing,  but  he  would  not  take  advantage  of 
it.  She  was  so  white  and  tremulous ;  her 
breath  came  forth  so  quick  and  short;  the 
drawn  lines  about  her  mouth  were  so  pit 
eous  that  he  felt  she  must  be  spared. 

"  I  will  not  press  you  now,  Christine," 
he  said ;  "  take  time  to  think  about  it.  Let 
me  come  again  to-morrow  morning.  I  will 
leave  you  now  and  you  must  try  to  rest. 
Talk  freely  to  Mrs.  Murray.  Ask  her  what 
you  must  do.  Remember  that  I  consent 
to  wait,  only  because  I  am  so  determined. 
Listen  to  me  one  moment.  I  swear  before 
Heaven  I  will  never  give  you  up.  You 
gave  yourself  to  me  in  that  kiss,  and  you 
are  mine." 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  as  if  that  struggle  were 
over  with  her  now,  "  I  am  yours.  I  know 
it.  Even  if  we  part  forever  I  am  always 


200       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

yours.  I  will  tell  you  what  I  will  do. 
Your  mother  shall  know  everything  and 
she  shall  decide." 

He  was  at  once  afraid  and  glad,  and 
Christine  saw  it. 

"  I  must  see  your  mother,"  she  began. 

"  I  will  see  her  for  you.  I  will  tell  her 
everything  and  you  shall  see  she  will  be  for 
us.  But  if  she  should  not,  I  warn  you, 
Christine,  I  will  not  give  you  up  for  any  one 
alive." 

"  Listen  to  me,"  said  Christine  calmly. 
"  This  is  what  you  must  do.  You  must  go 
to  your  mother  and  tell  her  there  is  some 
one  that  you  love.  Tell  her  as  fully  and 
freely  as  you  choose.  Convince  her  of  the 
truth  and  strength  of  it  as  thoroughly  as 
you  can,  and  tell  her  that  woman  loves  you 
in  return,  but  has  refused  to  marry  you, 
for  reasons  which,  if  she  would  like  to  hear 
them,  that  woman  herself  will  lay  before 
her.  I  cannot  let  you  do  it  for  me,"  she 
went  on  earnestly.  "  I  know  you  would 
wish  to  spare  me  this,  but  only  a  woman's 
tongue  could  tell  that  story  of  misery,  and 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        201 

only  a  woman's  heart  could  understand  it. 
You  think  she  will  love  me  for  my  misfort 
unes,  as  you  have  done  in  your  great, 
generous  heart.  I  do  not  dare  to  think  it, 
but  I  will  put  it  to  the  test.  You  must 
promise  me  to  tell  her  nothing  except  just 
what  I  have  told  you.  Do  you  promise 
this  ? " 

"  I  promise  it,  upon  my  honor ;  but  re 
member,  if  my  mother  should  decide 
against  me,  I  do  not  give  you  up." 

"  No,  but  I  will  give  you  up." 

"  Christine  !  "  he  cried.  "  And  yet  you 
say  you  love  me  !  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  say  I  love  you  —  and  you 
know  whether  it  is  true." 

She  stood  in  front  of  him  and  looked  him 
firmly  in  the  face,  but  the  look  of  her  clear 
eyes  was  so  full  of  crowding,  overwhelm 
ing  sorrow  that  love,  for  a  while,  seemed 
to  have  taken  flight. 

In  vain  he  tried  to  put  his  hopeful  spirit 
into  her.  She  only  shook  her  head  and 
showed  him  a  face  of  deep,  unhoping  sor 
row. 


202       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

"  If  your  mother  consents  to  see  me, 
appoint  an  hour  to-morrow  morning  and 
let  me  know.  I  will  take  a  carriage  and 
go  alone  — " 

"I  will  come  for  you.  I  will  bring  my 
mother's  carriage — " 

"  No,  I  must  go  alone,  and  I  prefer  to  go 
in  a  hired  carriage.  You  must  see  that  no 
one  else  is  present  —  neither  of  your  sisters. 
It  is  to  your  mother  only  that  I  can  say 
what  I  have  to  say." 

"  Everything  shall  be  as  you  wish.  But, 
Christine,  don't  be  hurt  if  you  find  my 
mother's  manner  difficult,  at  first.  She  has 
had  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  and  it  has  made 
her  manner  a  little  hard  —  " 

"Ah,"  she  said,  "I  can  understand  that." 

"  But  it  is  only  her  manner,"  Noel  went 
on,  "  her  heart  is  kind  and  true." 

"  Don't  try  to  encourage  me.  I  am  not 
afraid.  If  she  has  known  the  face  of  sor 
row  that  is  the  best  passport  between  us. 
Perhaps  she  will  understand  me." 

"  Promise  me  this,  Christine  —  that  what 
ever  happens,  you  will  see  me  to-morrow 
evening  —  and  see  me  alone." 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        203 

"  I  promise,  but  it  may  be  to  say  good- 
by." 

He  repressed  the  defiant  protest  of  his 
heart,  secure  in  his  strong  resolve. 

"  Good-night,  Christine,"  he  said. 

"  Good-night,"  she  answered.  Her  eyes 
seemed  to  look  at  him  through  a  great 
cloud  of  sorrow,  and  her  voice  was  like  the 
speaking  of  a  woman  in  a  dream.  There 
was  a  great  and  availing  force  in  the  mood 
that  held  her.  Noel  knew  she  wished  to  be 
alone  and  that  she  had  need  of  the  repose 
of  solitude.  So  he  only  clasped  her  hand 
an  instant,  in  a  strong,  assuring  pressure, 
and  was  gone. 

Exhausted,  worn  out,  spent  with  sorrow, 
Christine  retired  at  once  to  her  room,  and 
went  wearily  to  bed,  wondering  what  the 
next  day  would  bring.  She  soon  fell  into  a 
deep  sleep,  and  slept  heavily  till  morning, 
waking  with  a  confused  mingling  of  memory 
and  expectancy  in  which  joy  and  pain  were 
inseparably  united. 


XVI. 

NOEL'S  note  came  early.  It  an 
nounced  that  his  mother  would  be 
ready  to  receive  her  visitor  any  time  after 
eleven.  It  was  full  of  the  strongest  assur 
ances  of  love  and  constancy,  and  Christine 
knew  it  was  meant  to  comfort  and  support 
her  in  her  approaching  ordeal.  She  felt  so 
strong  to  meet  this,  however,  that  even 
Mrs.  Murray's  earnest  protest  that  harm 
would  come  of  the  visit  failed  to  intimidate 
her,  and  she  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  her 
good  friend's  entreaties  to  her  to  give  it  up. 
Mrs.  Murray's  advice  was  for  the  immedi 
ate  marriage  and  departure  for  Europe,  but 
Christine's  mind  was  made  up,  and  could 
not  be  shaken. 

She  was  feeling  strangely  calm  as  she 
drove  along  through  a  part  of  the  great  city 
she  had  never  ever  seen  before,  where 
there  were  none  but  splendid  houses,  with 
glimpses,  through  richly-curtained  windows, 
of  luxurious  interiors,  and  where  all  the 
204 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        205 

people  who  passed  her,  whether  on  foot  or 
in  handsome  carriages,  had  an  air  of  ease 
and  comfort  and  luxury  that  made  her  feel 
herself  still  more  an  alien.  She  did  not  re 
gret  her  resolution,  but  she  felt  quite  hope 
less  of  its  result.  It  would  make  matters 
simpler  for  her,  at  all  events. 

When  the  carriage  stopped  she  got  out 
with  a  strange  feeling  of  unreality,  closed 
the  door  behind  her,  careful  to  see  that  it 
caught,  spoke  to  the  driver  quietly  and  told 
him  to  wait,  and  then  walked  up  the  steps 
and  rang  the  bell.  During  the  moment 
she  stood  there  a  boy  came  along  and  threw 
a  small  printed  paper  at  her  feet.  It  was  an 
advertisement  of  a  new  soap,  and  she  was 
reading  it  mechanically  when  the  door  was 
opened  by  a  tall  man-servant  who  stood 
against  the  background  of  a  stately  hall, 
whose  rich  furnishings  were  revealed  by  the 
softened  light  that  came  through  the  stained 
glass  windows.  Christine  was  closely  veiled, 
and  coming  out  of  the  sunshine  it  all  seemed 
obscure  and  dim.  She  asked  if  Mrs.  Noel 
was  at  home,  and  when  the  man  said  yes, 


ao6        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

and  ushered  her  in  she  desired  him  to  say  to 
Mrs.  Noel  that  the  lady  with  whom  she  had 
an  appointment  was  come. 

Then  she  sat  down  in  the  great  drawing- 
room  and  waited.  The  silence  was  intense. 
She  seemed  to  have  shrunk  to  a  very  small 
size  as  she  sat  in  the  midst  of  all  this  high- 
pitched,  broad-proportioned  stateliness.  As 
her  eyes  grew  accustomed  to  the  darkness 
the  objects  about  her  seemed  to  come  out, 
one  by  one  —  beautiful  pictures,  graceful 
statues,  rich  draperies  and  delicate,  fine  orna 
ments  of  many  kinds.  A  carriage  rolled  by 
outside,  one  of  the  horses  slipping  on  the 
thin  coat  of  ice  with  which  the  shady  side  of 
the  street  was  covered.  The  driver  jerked 
him  up  sharply,  with  a  smothered  exclama 
tion,  and  went  on.  As  the  sound  of  wheels 
died  away  she  could  hear  a  street  band  far 
off,  playing  a  popular  air.  Then  that  too 
ceased  and  the  silence  without  was  as  pro 
found  as  the  silence  within.  Christine  felt 
precisely  as  if  she  were  dreaming.  It  seemed 
to  her  hours  that  she  had  waited  here,  though 
she  knew  it  was  only  a  very  few  minutes,  be- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        207 

fore  the  servant  returned.  Mrs.  Noel  re 
quested  that  she  would  be  kind  enough  to 
come  up-stairs,  he  said. 

Christine  followed  him  silently  up  the 
great  staircase,  and  was  ushered  into  a  room 
near  its  head.  She  heard  the  door  closed 
behind  her,  and  saw  a  small,  slight  figure, 
dressed  in  black,  standing  opposite  to  her. 

"  Good-morning.  Excuse  my  asking  you 
to  come  up-stairs,"  a  clear,  refined  voice 
began ;  but  suddenly  it  broke  off,  and  per 
fect  silence  followed,  and  the  eyes  of  the  two 
women  met.  Christine  was  very  pale,  and 
those  beautiful  eyes  of  hers  had  dark  rings 
around  them,  but  they  were  marvellously 
clear  and  true,  and,  above  all,  they  were 
eloquent  with  sorrow. 

The  elder  woman  advanced  to  her  and 
took  her  hand. 

"  Oh,  my  child,  how  you  must  have  suf 
fered  ! "  she  said. 

"Ah,  you  know  what  it  is.  You  have 
suffered,  too.  We  shall  understand  each 
other  better  for  that." 

"My  dear,   I   seem  to  understand  it  all. 


208        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

Don't  be  unhappy.  You  need  have  no  fear 
of  me.  If  you  love  my  son  as  he  loves  you, 
you  have  my  consent.  I  will  not  ask  to 
know  anything." 

"You  must  know.  I  have  come  to  tell 
you.  You  will  probably  change  your  mind 
when  you  have  heard." 

The  elder  woman,  who  was  pale  and 
delicate,  and  yet  in  spite  of  all  this  bore 
some  resemblance  to  her  strong  young  son, 
now  led  her  tall  companion  to  a  seat,  and  sit 
ting  down  in  front  of  her,  said  kindly : 

"  Take  off  your  hat  and  gloves,  my  dear. 
Try  to  feel  at  home  with  me.  I  love  my 
son  too  dearly  to  go  against  him  in  the  most 
earnest  desire  of  his  life.  He  has  told  me 
nothing,  except  that  you  love  each  other, 
and  that  there  is  something  which  you  con 
sider  an  obstacle  to  your  marriage,  but 
which  he  utterly  refuses  to  accept  as  such. 
Tell  me  about  it,  dear,  and  let  me  set  your 
mind  at  rest." 

Christine  took  off  her  gloves,  because 
they  were  a  constraint  to  her,  and  now,  as 
she  gave  her  two  bare  hands  into  those  of 
Mrs.  Noel,  she  said  calmly  : 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        209 

"  You  think  it  is  some  little  thing  —  that 
lack  of  fortune  or  a  difference  in  social  posi 
tion  is  the  obstacle.  I  would  not  be  here 
now  if  it  were  no  more  than  that — for  I  do 
love  him  !  " 

The  last  words  broke  from  her  as  if  in 
voluntarily,  and  the  impulse  that  made  her 
utter  them  sent  the  swift  tears  to  her  eyes. 
But  she  forced  them  back,  and  they  had  no 
successors. 

"And  he  loves  you,  too  —  oh,  how  he 
loves  you  !  I  wonder  if  you  know." 

"Yes,  I  know  —  I  know  it  all.  He  has 
shown  and  proved,  as  well  as  told  me.  We 
love  each  other  with  a  complete  and  perfect 
love.  Even  if  I  have  to  give  him  up  noth 
ing  can  take  that  away." 

"  My  dear,  you  need  not  give  him  up. 
I  asked  my  son  one  question  only :  c  Is  her 
honor  free  from  stain  ? ' 

"  And  what  was  his  answer  ?  " 

" '  Absolutely  and  utterly.  She  is  as 
stainless  as  an  angel.'  Those  were  his  very 
words." 

"  God  bless  him  for  them  !     God   forever 


2io       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

bless  him  !  "  said  Christine.  "  I  know,  in 
his  eyes,  it  is  so." 

"In  his  eyes ! "  repeated  Mrs.  Noel. 
"  Is  there  any  doubt  that  it  would  be  so 
in  any  eyes  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Christine,  "  there  is  great 
doubt." 

It  was  well  for  her  that  she  had  not 
hoped  too  much  —  well  that  she  had  kept 
continually  in  mind  the  awful  value  of  the 
revelation  she  had  come  to  make.  If  she 
had  been  sanguine  and  confident  the  look 
that  now  came  over  the  face  of  Noel's 
mother  would  have  been  a  harder  thing  to 
bear.  But  Christine  was  all  prepared  for 
it.  It  wounded,  but  it  did  not  surprise 
nor  disturb  her  perfect  calm.  There  was 
a  distinct  change  in  the  tone  with  which 
Mrs.  Noel  now  said : 

"If  you  have  been  unfortunate,  poor  girl, 
and  have  been  led  into  trouble  without  fault 
of  your  own,  as  may  possibly  be,  no  one 
could  pity  you  more  than  I.  I  can  imagine 
such  a  case,  and  I  could  not  look  at  you  and 
think  any  evil  of  you.  But  if  you  know 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        211 

the  world  at  all,  you  must  know  that  these 
things  —  let  a  woman  be  utterly  free  from 
fault  herself — carry  their  inexorable  conse 
quences." 

"  I  know  the  world  but  little,"  said  Chris 
tine,  "  and  yet  I  know  that." 

"  Then,  my .  dear  child,  you  cannot 
wonder  that  the  woman  so  unfortunately 
situated  is  thought  to  be  debarred  from 
honorable  marriage." 

"  I  do  not  wonder  when  I  meet  with  this 
judgment  in  the  world  or  in  you.  I  only 
wondered  when  I  found  in  your  son  a  being 
too  high  for  it  —  a  being  to  whom  right  is 
right  and  pureness  is  pureness,  as  it  is  to 
God.  You  will  remember,  madame,  that  it 
was  your  son  who  claimed  that  I  was  not 
debarred  from  honorable  marriage,  and  not 
I.  Oh,  I  have  suffered  —  you  were  right. 
No  wonder  that  the  sign  of  it  is  branded  on 
my  forehead  for  all  the  world  to  see.  I  have 
suffered  in  a  way  as  far  beyond  the  worst 
pain  you  have  ever  known  as  that  pain  of 
yours  has  been  from  pleasure.  You  have 
known  death  in  its  most  awful  form  when  it 


212        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

took  from  you  your  dearest  ones,  but  I  have 
known  death  too.  My  little  baby,  who  was 
like  the  very  core  of  my  heart,  round  which 
the  heartstrings  twisted,  and  the  clinging 
flesh  was  wrapped,  was  torn  away  from  me 
by  death,  and  it  was  pain  and  anguish  un 
speakable  —  but  I  have  known  a  suffering 
compared  to  which  that  agony  was  joy. 
There  can  be  worse  things  to  bear  than  the 
death  of  your  heart's  dearest  treasure  —  at 
least  I  know  it  may  be  so  with  women. 
And  it  was  because  you  were  a  woman, 
with  a  woman's  possibilities  of  pain,  that 
I  wanted  to  come  to  you  —  to  tell  you  all, 
and  let  you  say  whether  I  am  a  fit  wife  for 
your  son." 

Ah,  poor  Christine!  She  felt,  as  she 
spoke  those  words,  the  silent,  still,  impal 
pable  recoil  in  her  companion's  heart. 
She  knew  the  poor  woman  was  trying  to 
be  kind  and  merciful  and  sympathetic,  but 
she  also  knew  that  what  she  had  just  said 
had  rendered  Noel's  mother  the  foe  and 
opposer  of  this  marriage,  instead  of  its 
friend. 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        213 

"  Go  on,  tell  me  all,"  his  mother  said, 
and  that  subtle  change  of  voice  and  manner 
was  distincter  still  to  the  acute  conscious 
ness  of  Christine's  suffering  soul.  "  I  will 
be  your  friend  whatever  happens,  and  I 
honor  you  for  the  spirit  in  which  you  look 
upon  this  thing.  I  will  speak  out  boldly, 
though  you  know  I  dislike  to  give  you  pain. 
But  tell  me  this :  Do  you  think  yourself  a 
fit  wife  for  my  son  ?  " 

Christine  raised  her  head  and  answered 
with  a  very  noble  look  of  pride : 

"  I  do." 

Her  companion  seemed  to  be  surprised, 
and  a  faint  shade  of  disapproval  crossed 
her  face. 

"  I  know  it,"  said  Christine.  "  I  know 
he  did  not  say  too  much  when  he  spoke 
those  blessed  words  to  you  and  said  I  was 
stainless.  God  saw  my  heart  through 
everything  and  He  knows  that  it  is  so,  but 
the  world  thinks  otherwise.  The  world, 
and  his  own  family,  perhaps,  would  think 
your  son  lowered  and  dishonored  by  mar 
rying  me,  and  I  never  could  consent  to  go 


214       A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

among  the  people  who  could  think  it ;  so, 
if  he  married  me,  he  would  not  only  have 
to  bear  this  odium,  but  to  give  up  too,  for 
ever,  his  home  and  relatives,  and  friends 
and  country,  and  it  was  for  these  reasons 
I  refused  to  marry  him  —  not  for  an  instant 
because  I  felt  myself  unworthy." 

It  was  plain  that  these  earnest  words  had 
moved  her  companion  deeply,  and  that 
she  felt  a  desire  to  hear  more. 

"Tell  me  the  whole  story,"  she  said. 
"This  you  have  promised  to  do,  and  you 
have  made  me  eager  to  hear  it.  Remem 
ber  how  little  I  have  been  told.  I  do  not 
even  know  your  name." 

With  the  full  gaze  of  her  sorrowful  eyes 
upon  the  elder  woman's  face,  she  said 
quietly : 

"  My  name  is  Christine." 

There  was  an  infinite  proud  calm  in  her 
voice,  and  in  the  same  tone  she  went  on: 

"  I  bore  throughout  my  childhood  and 
my  young  girl  days  another  name  that 
seems  in  no  sense  to  belong  to  me  now. 
That  child  and  girl,  Christine  Verrone,  is 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        215 

not  in  any  way  myself.  It  seems  only  a 
sweet  memory  of  a  dear  young  creature, 
nearer  akin  to  the  birds,  and  the  winds, 
and  the  flowers  than  to  me.  I  cannot  feel 
I  ought  to  take  her  name,  and  pass  myself 
for  her.  For  three  years  I  bore  another 
name,  but  it  is  one  my  very  lips  refuse  to 
utter  now,  and  I  never  had  a  right  to  it. 
The  one  name  that  I  feel  is  really  mine  is 
just  Christine  —  the  name  that  was  given  to 
the  little  baby,  on  whose  forehead  the  sign 
of  the  cross  was  made  soon  after  she  came 
into  this  sad  world,  to  taste  of  its  most 
awful  sorrow  and  to  grow  into  the  woman 
that  I  am.  I  have  always  loved  it,  be 
cause,  in  sound,  it  seemed  to  bring  me 
near  to  Christ  —  the  dear  Christ  who  has 
never  forsaken  me  since  I  have  borne  His 
sign,  who  has  been  through  all  my  loving, 
dear  Brother,  knowing  and  understanding 
all  and  grieving  that  I  had  to  suffer  so.  He 
is  with  me  still.  He  will  stay  with  me  if  I 
have  to  give  up  earthly  love  and  all  that 
can  make  life  happy.  I  know  He  has  let 
it  all  happen  to  me,  and  that  it  must  be  for 


216        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

my  good.  I  know  I  am  as  pure  in  His 
eyes  as  when  I  was  that  little  baby,  bap 
tized  in  His  name,  bearing  the  humanity 
He  bore.  You  may  decide  my  earthly 
happiness  as  you  choose.  I  am  not  com 
fortless.  I  know  now  the  extent  of  His 
perfect  power  to  comfort,  since  I  find  that 
He  can  support  me  through  the  supreme 
trial  of  giving  up  the  man  I  love.  It  is  in 
our  darkest  hour  He  comes  closest,"  she 
said,  as  if  in  a  sort  of  ecstasy.  "He  is  here 
right  with  me  now,  strengthening  and  bless 
ing  me.  I  can  feel  His  hands  on  my  head. 
They  actually  press  and  touch  me." 

The  fervor  of  her  voice,  the  exaltation  of 
her  look,  and  the  extreme  realism  of  the 
words  she  used  were  indescribably  awing 
and  agitating  to  her  companion,  to  whom 
such  evidences  in  connection  with  religious 
feeling  were  utterly  unprecedented.  She 
saw  that  the  source  of  this  deep  emotion 
was  utter  despair  of  earthly  happiness,  as, 
in  truth,  it  was.  From  the  moment  that 
Christine  had  noted  the  change  in  her  com 
panion,  which  had  followed  her  partial  con- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        217 

fession,  she  felt  that  her  doom  was  sealed, 
and  it  was  under  the  influence  of  this  convic 
tion  that  she  had  spoken.  She  felt  anxious 
now  to  finish  the  interview  and  get  away, 
that  she  might  look  her  sorrow  in  the  face, 
without  the  feeling  of  strange  eyes  upon  her, 
and  that  she  might  gather  strength  for  her 
parting  with  the  man  she  loved. 

Her  last  words  had  been  followed  by  a 
thrilling  silence  which  the  other  felt  herself 
powerless  to  break.  It  was  Christine  who 
spoke. 

"  I  promised  your  son  that  I  would  tell 
you  the  history  of  my  life,"  she  said.  "  I 
can  give  it  to  you  very  briefly.  I  was  as 
innocent  and  unknowing  as  a  little  child 
when  I  was  taken  from  the  convent  where 
I  was  educated,  and  married  by  my  father 
to  a  man  I  scarcely  knew.  I  suppose  I  was 
a  burden  to  my  father  and  he  wanted  to  get 
rid  of  me.  He  told  me  that  the  whole  of 
my  mother's  little  fortune  had  been  spent  on 
my  education,  and  that  he  had  no  home  to 
take  me  to,  and  that  I  must  marry.  The 
young  man  he  chose  for  me  was  good-look- 


216        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

my  good.  I  know  I  am  as  pure  in  His 
eyes  as  when  I  was  that  little  baby,  bap 
tized  in  His  name,  bearing  the  humanity 
He  bore.  You  may  decide  my  earthly 
happiness  as  you  choose.  I  am  not  com 
fortless.  I  know  now  the  extent  of  His 
perfect  power  to  comfort,  since  I  find  that 
He  can  support  me  through  the  supreme 
trial  of  giving  up  the  man  I  love.  It  is  in 
our  darkest  hour  He  comes  closest,"  she 
said,  as  if  in  a  sort  of  ecstasy.  "He  is  here 
right  with  me  now,  strengthening  and  bless 
ing  me.  I  can  feel  His  hands  on  my  head. 
They  actually  press  and  touch  me." 

The  fervor  of  her  voice,  the  exaltation  of 
her  look,  and  the  extreme  realism  of  the 
words  she  used  were  indescribably  awing 
and  agitating  to  her  companion,  to  whom 
such  evidences  in  connection  with  religious 
feeling  were  utterly  unprecedented.  She 
saw  that  the  source  of  this  deep  emotion 
was  utter  despair  of  earthly  happiness,  as, 
in  truth,  it  was.  From  the  moment  that 
Christine  had  noted  the  change  in  her  com 
panion,  which  had  followed  her  partial  con- 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        217 

fession,  she  felt  that  her  doom  was  sealed, 
and  it  was  under  the  influence  of  this  convic 
tion  that  she  had  spoken.  She  felt  anxious 
now  to  finish  the  interview  and  get  away, 
that  she  might  look  her  sorrow  in  the  face, 
without  the  feeling  of  strange  eyes  upon  her, 
and  that  she  might  gather  strength  for  her 
parting  with  the  man  she  loved. 

Her  last  words  had  been  followed  by  a 
thrilling  silence  which  the  other  felt  herself 
powerless  to  break.  It  was  Christine  who 
spoke. 

"  I  promised  your  son  that  I  would  tell 
you  the  history  of  my  life,"  she  said.  "  I 
can  give  it  to  you  very  briefly.  I  was  as 
innocent  and  unknowing  as  a  little  child 
when  I  was  taken  from  the  convent  where 
I  was  educated,  and  married  by  my  father 
to  a  man  I  scarcely  knew.  I  suppose  I  was 
a  burden  to  my  father  and  he  wanted  to  get 
rid  of  me.  He  told  me  that  the  whole  of 
my  mother's  little  fortune  had  been  spent  on 
my  education,  and  that  he  had  no  home  to 
take  me  to,  and  that  I  must  marry.  The 
young  man  he  chose  for  me  was  good-look- 


218        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

ing  and  kind,  though  he  did  not  speak  my 
language,  and  I  knew  almost  nothing  of  his. 
My  fiather  did  everything.  He  assured  me 
this  man  adored  me  and  would  do  every 
thing  to  make  me  happy  —  would  always 
take  care  of  me  and  give  me  a  beautiful 
home  in  his  land  beyond  the  sea.  I  was 
ignorant  of  marriage  as  a  baby.  It  was  easy 
to  get  up  a  girlish  fancy  for  the  young  man 
thus  presented  to  my  childish  imagination, 
and  I  consented  willingly.  I  had  a  lot  of 
charming  clothes  ordered  for  my  trousseau, 
and  I  was  as  delighted  as  a  child.  In  this 
way  I  was  married  —  " 

"Ah,  you  were  really  married!"  inter 
rupted  her  companion,  the  cloud  on  her  face 
beginning  to  clear  away.  Christine  saw  it 
with  a  tinge  of  bitterness  in  her  gentle  heart. 

"  No,"  she  said,  almost  coldly,  "  I  was 
not  really  married.  I  thought  so,  and  for 
three  years  I  struggled  through  pain  and 
woe  and  horror  to  do  my  duty  to  the  man 
to  whom  I  believed  myself  bound  by  the 
holy  and  indissoluble  tie  of  marriage.  I 
was  ignorant,  but  somehow  I  had  imbibed 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        219 

from  every  source  ever  opened  to  me  a 
deep  sense  of  the  sacredness  and  eternity 
of  that  bond.  So  I  fought  and  struggled 
on,  feeling  that  truth  to  that  obligation  was 
my  one  anchor  in  a  sea  of  trouble.  I 
thought  when  I  came  here  I  could  tell  you 
some  of  the  things  I  felt  and  endured,  but 
I  cannot.  There  would  be  no  use.  The 
bare  fact  is  enough  for  a  woman's  heart. 
When  my  child  came  I  fixed  my  whole 
soul's  devotion  on  him.  He  was  always 
delicate  and  feeble,  but  I  loved  him  as, 
perhaps,  a  strong  and  healthy  child  could 
not  have  been  loved.  His  father  never 
noticed  him  at  all,  except  to  show  that  he 
thought  him  a  burden.  That  was  the  final 
touch  of  complete  alienation.  Love  —  or 
what  I  had  once  called  by  that  name  —  was 
gone  long  ago.  We  had  become  extremely 
poor  —  every  cent  of  the  principal  had  been 
spent  in  the  most  reckless  way  —  oh,  I  can't 
tell  you  all  that.  Your  son  will  tell  you  if 
you  ask  him.  I  think  a  sort  of  mental 
lack  was  at  the  back  of  it.  I  must  hurry ; 
I  can't  bear  to  go  over  it  all  now.  I  met 


220        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

your  son  on  the  steamer  coming  over,  and 
he  was  kind  to  me  then,  suspecting,  per 
haps,  how  things  were  tending.  Long 
after  I  met  him  again,  accidentally,  and  he 
found  out  how  wretched  and  poor  I  was, 
with  my  baby  ill,  and  in  need  almost  of  the 
necessaries  of  life.  He  gave  me  sittings  at 
his  studio,  then,  and  paid  me  for  them  — 
larger  sums,  I  suppose,  than  they  were 
worth.  At  any  rate,  he  and  a  good  doctor 
and  an  old  servant  helped  me  through  my 
trouble  when  my  baby  died  and  was  buried. 
Then  —  oh,  I  am  almost  done  with  it  now, 
thank  God  ! "  she  said,  with  a  great  sob 
bing  breath  — "  it  came  to  your  son's  knowl 
edge,  professionally,  that  another  woman 
claimed  the  man  I  supposed  to  be  my  hus 
band,  and  he  was  about  to  be  tried  for  — " 
she  hesitated  before  the  word,  and  could 
not  utter  it.  "  Then  —  it  was  months  ago  — 
he  took  me  to  Mrs.  Murray,  who  took  care 
of  me  through  all  the  misery  and  wretched 
ness  of  those  first  weeks,  and  afterward 
got  me  work  to  do  that  I  might  make  my 
own  living.  There  I  have  been,  in  my 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        221 

sad  peace  and  safety,  ever  since  —  a  broken 
hearted,  wretched,  nameless  woman,  and 
as  such  your  son  loved  me.  I  returned 
his  love  with  all  the  fire  and  strength  of 
an  utterly  unexpended  force.  I  had  never 
loved  before.  I  never  felt  the  power  of 
that  love  so  mighty  as  now,  in  this  moment 
that  I  give  him  up." 

"  You  shall  not  give  him  up  !  I  know  it 
all  now,  and,  in  spite  of  everything,  I  tell 
you  you  shall  not.  Christine,  listen,  I  give 
my  consent.  I  declare  to  you  that  you 
honor  him  supremely  when  you  agree  to 
marry  him.  My  child,  if  you  had  had  a 
mother  all  this  would  not  have  come  to 
you.  I  rejoice  to  take  you  for  my  daugh 
ter.  Look  at  me,  Christine,  and  try  to 
feel  that  you  have  a  mother  at  last." 

It  was  almost  too  much  for  the  strained 
nerves  of  the  girl.  She  could  have  borne 
denial  calmly,  seeing  that  she  was  ready 
for  it,  but  the  great  rush  of  joy  that  surged 
into  her  heart  at  these  unexpected  words 
confused  and  agitated  her.  A  strong  voice 
spoke  to  her  words  of  comfort  and  cheer, 


222        A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN 

and  loving  arms  embraced  her.  Sweet 
mother -kisses  were  pressed  upon  her 
cheeks  and  eyes,  and  she  was  gently  re 
assured  and  calmed  and  strengthened. 
Her  mind  was  still  a  little  dazed,  however, 
and  she  did  not  quite  know  how  it  was 
that  she  found  herself  now  standing  alone, 
near  the  middle  of  the  room. 

The  door  opened.  Some  one  entered 
and  closed  it  softly.  She  felt  that  it  was 
Noel.  He  paused  an  instant  near  the 
threshold,  and  she  turned  her  head  and 
looked  at  him.  He  held  out  his  arms. 
They  moved  toward  each  other,  and  she 
was  folded  in  a  close  embrace.  They  re 
mained  so,  absolutely  still.  Her  heart  was 
beating  in  full,  thick  throbs  against  his, 
which  kept  time  to  it.  Her  closed  eyes 
were  against  his  throat,  and  she  would  not 
move  so  much  as  an  eyelash.  She  gave 
herself  up  utterly  to  this  ecstasy  of  content. 

"  Don't  move,"  she  whispered.  She 
was  afraid  this  perfect  moment  would  be 
spoiled ;  a  kiss,  even,  would  have  done  it. 
But  he  seemed  to  understand,  and  except 


A  BEAUTIFUL  ALIEN        223 

to  tighten  slightly  the  pressure  of  his  arms 
he  kept  profoundly  still.  She  could  hear 
his  low,  uneven  breathing  and  the  faint, 
regular  ticking  of  his  watch.  They  seemed 
enclosed  in  a  silence  vast  as  space,  and 
sweeter  than  thought  could  fathom.  A 
great  ocean  of  contentment  flowed  about 
them,  stretching  into  infinity.  Neither 
could  have  thought  of  anything  to  wish 
for.  They  seemed  in  absolute  possession 
of  all  joy. 

A  sound  —  the  striking  of  a  clock  —  broke 
the  spell  of  silence.  They  moved  a  little 
apart,  and  so  looked  long  into  each  other's 
eyes.  Then  Noel  bent  toward  the  face 
upraised  to  his,  and  their  lips  met. 

There  were  tears  in  Christine's  eyes  as 
she  sank  back  from  that  kiss,  but  her  hap 
piness  was  complete,  absolute,  supreme. 
God  had  given  to  them  both  his  richest 
gift  of  pleasure  after  pain. 


PRINTED  BY  GEO.  H.  ELLIS 
AT  272  CONGRESS  STREET 
BOSTON,  FOR  RICHARD 
G.  BADGER  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 
BOSTON 


DATE  DUE 


EPU  J'jft 

:  .  '.:•• 

NOV 

91987 

Rtt'O  U 

j  I  16^ 

r 

APR 

1  ^  1990 

rM  *  » 

1  3  1996 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  INU.S.A. 

3   1970  00602  735( 


m '"I.  «nn  RQ7     1 

000  200  b 


